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HUMILITY 

THE  BEAUTY  OF  HOLINESS 


Rev.    ANDREW    MURRAY 


IamJ  Jesus  !  may  our  Holiness  be  perfect  HumiUtyl 
Let  Thy  perfect  rlumility  be  our  Holiness  I 


NEW  YORK 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

LONDON  GLASGOW 


SEP    3   1992 


PPINTED    li:    GREAT   BRITAIN    BY 

MORRISON    AND    GIBB    LTD.,    LONDON    AND  EDINBURGH 

R3334 


PREFACE. 


Therb  are  three  great  motives  that  urge  us  to 
humility.  It  becomes  me  as  a  creature,  as  a 
sinner,  as  a  saint.  The  first  we  see  in  the 
heavenly  hosts,  in  unfallen  man,  in  Jesus  as  Son 
of  Man.  The  second  appeals  to  us  in  our  fallen 
state,  and  points  out  the  only  way  through  which 
we  can  return  to  our  right  place  as  creatures. 
In  the  third  we  have  the  mystery  of  grace,  which 
teaches  us  that,  as  we  lose  ourselves  in  the 
overwhelming  greatness  of  redeeming  love, 
humility  becomes  to  us  the  consunmiation  of 
everlasting  blessedness  and  adoration. 

In  our  ordinary  religious  teaching,  the  second 
aspect  has  been  too  exclusively  put  in  the  fore- 
ground, so  that  some  have  even  gone  to  the  ex- 
treme of  saying  that  we  must  keep  sinning  if  we 
are  indeed  to  keep  humble.  Others  again  have 
thought  that  the  strength  of  self-condemnation 
is  the  secret  of  humility.  And  the  Christian 
life  has  suffered  loss,  where  believers  have  not 
been  distinctly  guided  to  see  that,  even  in  our 
relation  as  creatures,  nothing  is  more  natural  and 
beautiful  and  blessed  than  to  be  nothing,  that 


preface. 


God  may  be  all ;  or  where  it  has  not  been  made 
clear  that  it  is  not  sin  that  humbles  most,  but 
grace,  and  that  it  is  the  soul,  led  through  its 
sinfulness  to  be  occupied  with  God  in  Hia 
wonderful  glory  as  God,  as  Creator  and  Redeemer, 
that  will  truly  take  the  lowest  place  before  Him. 
In  these  meditations  I  have,  for  more  than 
one  reason,  almost  exclusively  directed  attention 
to  the  humility  that  becomes  us  as  creatures.  It 
is  not  only  that  the  connection  between  humility 
and  sin  is  so  abundantly  set  forth  in  all  oui 
religious  teaching,  but  because  I  believe  that  for 
the  fulness  of  the  Christian  life  it  is  indispensable 
that  prominence  be  given  to  the  other  aspect.  If 
Jesus  is  indeed  to  be  our  example  in  His  lowliness, 
we  need  to  understand  the  principles  in  which  it 
was  rooted,  and  in  which  we  find  the  common 
ground  on  which  we  stand  with  Him,  and  in 
which  our  likeness  to  Him  is  to  be  attained 
If  we  are  indeed  to  be  humble,  not  only  before 
God  but  towards  men,  if  humility  is  to  be 
our  joy,  we  must  see  that  it  is  not  only  the 
mark  of  shame  because  of  sin,  but,  apart  from 
all  sin,  a  being  clothed  upon  with  the  very 
beauty  and  blessedness  of  heaven  and  of  Jesus. 
We  shall  see  that  just  as  Jesus  found  His 
glory  in  taking  the  form  of  a  servant,  so  when 
He  said  to  us,  'Whosoever  would  be  first 
among  you,  shall  be  your  servant,'  He  simply 
taught  us  the  blessed  truth  that  there  is  nothing 
so  divine  and  heavenly  as  being  the  servant 
and   helper  of  all     The  faithful  servant,  who 


preface. 


recognises  his  position,  finds  a  real  pleasure  in 
supplying  the  wants  of  the  master  or  his  guests. 
When  we  see  that  humility  is  something  in- 
finitely deeper  than  contrition,  and  accept  it  as 
our  participation  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  we  shall 
begin  to  learn  that  it  is  our  true  nobility,  and 
that  to  prove  it  in  being  servants  of  all  is  the 
highest  fulfilment  of  our  destiny,  as  men  created 
in  the  image  of  God. 

When  I  look  back  upon  my  own  religious 
experience,  or  round  upon  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  the  world,  I  stand  amazed  at  the  thought  of 
how  little  humility  is  sought  after  as  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  the  discipleship  of  Jesus. 
In  preaching  and  living,  in  the  daily  intercourse 
of  the  home  and  social  life,  in  the  more  special 
fellowship  with  Christians,  in  the  direction  and 
performance  of  work  for  Christ,  —  alas !  how 
much  proof  there  is  that  humility  is  not 
esteemed  the  cardinal  virtue,  the  only  root  from 
which  the  graces  can  grow,  the  one  indispensable 
condition  of  true  fellowship  with  Jesus.  That 
it  should  have  been  possible  for  men  to  say 
of  those  who  claim  to  be  seeking  the  higher 
holiness,  that  the  profession  has  not  been 
accompanied  with  increasing  humility,  is  a  loud 
call  to  all  earnest  Christians,  however  much  or 
little  truth  there  be  in  the  charge,  to  prove 
that  meekness  and  lowliness  of  heart  are  the 
chief  mark  by  which  they  who  follow  the  meek 
and  lowly  Lamb  of  God  are  to  be  known. 


\;\Ji^  ifii^  i  J9 

Dumilfts 

; 

PAQB 

I. 

M 

The  Glory  of  the  Creature       . 

11 

II. 

»t 

The  Secret  of  Redemption 

17 

III. 

II 

In  the  Life  of  Jesus    . 

24 

IV. 

11 

In  the  Teaching  of  Jesus 

30 

V. 

>> 

In  the  Disciples  of  Jesus 

87 

VI. 

♦  » 

In  Daily  Life  . 

44 

VII. 

II 

And  Holiness  . 

.      52 

VIII. 

l> 

And  Sin 

59 

IX. 

•  1 

And  Faith      . 

67 

X. 

It 

And  Death  to  Self 

.      73 

XI. 

It 

And  Happiness 

,      80 

XII. 

II 

And  Exaltation           , 

87 

NOTBS 

•             •             » 

.       S4 

DumilitB:  ^be  ©lorfi  of  tbe  (n«ature. 


Humility:   The   Beauty  of  Holiness. 

I. 

•fcumilltB;  Zbc  ©lore  of  tbe  creature. 

'They  shall  east  their  crovms  be/vt^  the  throne, 
saying:  Worthy  art  Thou,  om-  Lord  and  our  God,  to 
receive  the  glory  and  tTie  honottr  and  the  power:  /or 
Thou  didst  create  all  things,  and  because  of  Thy  will  they 
were,  and  were  created.' — Rev.  iv.  11. 

WHEN  God  created  the  universe,  it  was 
with  the  one  object  of  making  the 
creature  partaker  of  His  perfection  and  blessed- 
ness, and  so  showing  forth  in  it  the  glory  of  His 
love  and  wisdom  and  power.  God  wished  to 
reveal  Himself  in  and  through  created  beings  by 
communicating  to  them  as  much  of  His  own 
goodness  and  glory  as  they  were  capable  of  receiv- 
ing. But  this  communication  was  not  a  giving 
to  the  creature  something  which  it  could  possess 
in  itself,  a  certain  life  or  goodness,  of  which  it 
had  the  charge  and  disposal.  By  no  means. 
But  as  God  is  the  ever-living,  ever-present,  ever- 


DumtltlB. 


acting  One,  who  upholdeth  all  things  by  the 
word  of  His  power,  and  in  whom  all  things  exist, 
the  relation  of  the  creature  to  God  could  only  be 
one  of  unceasing,  absolute,  universal  dependence. 
As  truly  as  God  by  His  power  once  created,  so 
truly  by  that  same  power  must  God  every  moment 
maintain.  The  creature  has  not  only  to  look 
back  to  the  origin  and  first  beginning  of  existence, 
and  acknowledge  that  it  there  owes  everything 
to  God;  its  chief  care,  its  highest  virtue,  its 
only  happiness,  now  and  through  all  eternity,  is 
to  present  itself  an  empty  vessel,  in  which  God 
can  dwell  and  manifest  His  power  and  goodness. 

The  life  God  bestows  is  imparted  not  once  for 
all,  but  each  moment  continuously,  by  the  unceas- 
ing operation  of  His  mighty  power.  Huminty, 
the  place  of  entire  dependence  on  God,  is,  from 
the  very  nature  of  things,  the  first  duty  and  the 
highest  virtue  of  the  creature,  and  the  root  of 
every  virtue. 

And  so  pride,  or  the  loss  of  this  humility,  is 
the  root  of  every  sin  and  evil.  It  was  when 
the  now  fallen  angels  began  to  look  upon  them- 
selves with  self-complacency  that  they  were 
led  to  disobedience,  and  were  cast  down  from 
the  light  of  heaven  into  outer  darkness.  Even 
80  it  was,  when  the  serpent  breathed  the 
poison  of  his  pride,  the  desire  to  be  as  God,  into 


DumtlttB:  ^he  (5lorB  of  tbe  Creature.    13 

the  hearts  of  our  first  parents,  that  they  too  fell 
from  their  high  estate  into  all  the  wretchedness 
in  which  man  is  now  sunk.  In  heaven  and 
earth,  pride,  self-exaltation,  is  the  gate  and  the 
birth,  and  the  curse,  of  hell.     (See  Note  A.) 

Hence  it  follows  that  nothing  can  be  our 
redemption,  but  the  restoration  of  the  lost 
humility,  the  original  and  only  true  relation  of 
the  creature  to  its  God.  And  so  Jesus  came  to 
bring  humility  back  to  earth,  to  make  us  par- 
takers of  it,  and  by  it  to  save  us.  In  heaven  He 
humbled  Himself  to  become  man.  The  humility 
we  see  in  Him  possessed  Him  in  heaven ;  it 
brought  Him,  He  brought  it,  from  there.  Here 
on  earth  "He  humbled  Himself,  and  became 
obedient  unto  death "  ;  His  humility  gave  His 
death  its  value,  and  so  became  our  redemption. 
And  now  the  salvation  He  imparts  is  nothing 
less  and  nothing  else  than  a  communication  of 
His  own  life  and  death,  His  own  disposition 
and  spirit,  His  own  humility,  as  the  ground  and 
root  of  His  relation  to  God  and  His  redeeming 
work.  Jesus  Christ  took  the  place  and  fulfilled 
the  destiny  of  man,  as  a  creature,  by  His  life  of 
perfect  humility.  His  humiUty  is  our  salvation. 
His  salvation  is  our  humility. 

And  80  the  life  of  the  saved  ones,  of  the 
saints,  must  needs  bear  this  stamp  of  deliverance 


14  f)umtitt^. 


from  sin,  and  full  restoration  to  their  original 
state  ;  their  whole  relation  to  God  and  man 
marked  by  an  all-pervading  humility.  Without 
this  there  can  be  no  true  abiding  in  God's 
presence,  or  experience  of  His  favour  and  the 
power  of  His  Spirit;  without  this  no  abiding 
faith,  or  love  or  joy  or  strength.  Humility  is 
the  only  soil  in  which  the  graces  root ;  the  lack 
of  humility  is  the  sufficient  explanation  of  every 
defect  and  failure.  Humility  is  not  so  much  a 
grace  or  virtue  along  with  others  ;  it  is  the  root 
of  all,  because  it  alone  takes  the  right  attitude 
before  God,  and  allows  Him  as  God  to  do  all. 

God  has  so  constituted  us  as  reasonable  beings, 
that  the  truer  the  insight  into  the  real  nature  or 
the  absolute  need  of  a  command,  the  readier 
and  fuller  will  be  our  obedience  to  it.  The  call 
to  humility  has  been  too  little  regarded  in  the 
Church,  because  its  true  nature  and  importance 
has  been  too  little  apprehended.  It  is  not  a 
something  which  we  bring  to  God,  or  He  bestows; 
it  is  simply  the  sense  of  entire  nothing-nessy  which 
comes  when  we  see  how  truly  God  is  all^  and  in 
which  we  make  way  for  God  to  be  all.  When 
the  creature  realises  that  this  is  the  true  nobility, 
and  consents  to  be  with  his  will,  his  mind,  and 
his  affections,  the  form,  the  vessel  in  which  the 
life  and  glory  of  God  are  to  work  and  manifest 


•fcumiUtT?:  (tbc  Olorg  ot  tbc  Creature.    15 

themselves,  he  sees  that  humility  is  simply 
acknowledging  the  truth  of  his  position  as 
creature,  and  yielding  to  God  His  place. 

In  the  life  of  earnest  Christians,  of  those  who 
pursue  and  profess  holiness,  humility  ought  to 
be  the  chief  mark  of  their  uprightness.  It 
is  often  said  that  it  is  not  so.  May  not  one 
reason  be  that  in  the  teaching  and  example 
of  the  Church,  it  has  never  had  that  place 
of  supreme  importance  which  belongs  to  it? 
And  that  this,  again,  is  owing  to  the  neglect 
of  this  truth,  that  strong  as  sin  is  as  a  motive 
to  humility,  there  is  one  of  still  wider  and 
mightier  influence,  that  which  makes  the  angels, 
that  which  made  Jesus,  that  which  makes 
the  holiest  of  saints  in  heaven,  so  humble ;  that 
the  first  and  chief  mark  of  the  relation  of  the 
creature,  the  secret  of  his  blessedness,  is  the 
humility  and  nothingness  which  leaves  God  free 
to  be  all  ? 

I  am  sure  there  are  many  Christians  who  will 
confess  that  their  experience  has  been  very  much 
like  my  own  in  this,  that  we  had  long  known 
the  Lord  without  realising  that  meekness  and 
lowliness  of  heart  are  to  be  the  distinguishing 
feature  of  the  disciple  as  they  were  of  the  Master. 
And  further,  that  this  humility  is  not  a  thing 
that  will  come  of  itself,  but  that  it  must  be  made 


i6  DumUttij. 


the  object  of  special  desire  and  prayer  and  faith 
and  practice.  As  we  study  the  word,  we  shall 
see  what  very  distinct  and  oft-repeated  instmc 
tions  Jesus  gave  His  disciples  on  this  point,  and 
how  slow  they  were  in  understanding  Him. 
Let  us,  at  the  very  commencement  of  our  medita- 
tions, admit  that  there  is  nothing  so  natural  to 
man,  nothing  so  insidious  and  hidden  from  our 
sight,  nothing  so  difficult  and  dangerous,  as  pride. 
Let  us  feel  that  nothing  but  a  very  determined 
and  persevering  waiting  on  God  and  Christ  will 
discover  how  lacking  we  are  in  the  grace  of 
humility,  and  how  impotent  to  obtain  what  we 
seek-  Let  us  study  the  character  of  Christ  until 
our  souls  are  filled  with  the  love  and  admiration 
of  His  lowliness.  And  let  us  believe  that,  when 
we  are  broken  down  under  a  sense  of  our  pride, 
and  our  impotence  to  cast  it  out,  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  will  come  in  to  impart  this  grace  too,  as 
a  part  of  His  wondrous  life  within  us. 


DumilitB:  ^be  Secret  ot  iReDempnon,    17 


Humility:   The   Beauty   of  Holiness. 

II. 
"bumiWt^:  tTbe  Secret  of  "ReOemptton. 

'  Have  this  mind  i/n  you  which  was  also  in  Christ 
Jesus:  who  emptied  Himself,  taking  the  form  of  a 
tervant ;  and  hutnbled  Himself,  becoming  obedient  even 
unto  death.  Wherefore  Qod  also  highly  exalted  Him.* 
— Phil.  ii.  5-7. 

NO  tree  can  grow  except  on  the  root  from 
which  it  sprang.  Through  all  its  exist- 
tfice  it  can  only  live  with  the  life  that  was  in 
the  seed  that  gave  it  being.  The  full  apprehen- 
sion of  this  truth  in  its  application  to  the  first 
and  the  Second  Adam  cannot  but  help  us  greatly 
to  understand  both  the  need  and  the  nature  of 
the  redemption  there  is  in  Jesus. 

Tfie  Need.— When  the  Old  Serpent,  he  who 
had  been  c<ust  out  from  heaven  for  his  pride,  whose 
whole  nature  as  devil  was  pride,  spoke  his  words 
of  temptation  into  the  ear  of  Eve,  these  words 
carried  with  them  the  very  poison  of  hell.    And 


i8  t^umtlttv. 


when  she  listened,  and  yielded  her  desire  and 
her  will  to  the  prospect  of  being  as  God,  know- 
ing good  and  evil,  the  poison  entered  into  her 
soul  and  blood  and  life,  destroying  for  ever  that 
blessed  humility  and  dependence  upon  God  which 
would  have  been  our  everlasting  happiness.  And 
instead  of  this,  her  life  and  the  life  of  the  race 
that  sprang  from  her  became  corrupted  to  its 
very  root  with  that  most  terrible  of  all  sins  and 
all  curses,  the  poison  of  Satan's  own  pride.  All 
the  wretchedness  of  which  this  world  has  been 
the  scene,  all  its  wars  and  bloodshed  among  the 
nations,  all  its  selfishness  and  sufiering,  all  its 
ambitions  and  jealousies,  all  its  broken  hearts 
and  embittered  lives,  with  all  its  daily  unhappi- 
ness,  have  their  origin  in  what  this  cursed,  hellish 
pride,  either  our  own,  or  that  of  others,  has 
brought  us.  It  is  pride  that  made  redemption 
needful;  it  is  from  our  pride  we  need  above 
everything  to  be  redeemed.  And  our  insight 
into  the  need  of  redemption  will  largely  depend 
upon  our  knowledge  of  the  terrible  nature  of  the 
power  that  has  entered  our  being. 

No  tree  can  grow  except  on  the  root  from 
which  it  sprang.  The  power  that  Satan  brought 
from  hell,  and  cast  into  man's  life,  is  working 
daily,  hourly,  with  mighty  power  througnout  the 
world.     Men  suffer  from  it ;  they  fear  and  fight 


iDumllltB:  ^bc  Secret  ot  TReDempnon.    19 

and  flee  it ;  and  yet  they  know  not  whence  it 
comes,  whence  it  has  its  terrible  supremacy. 
No  wonder  they  do  not  know  where  or  how  it 
is  to  be  overcome.  Pride  has  its  root  and 
strength  in  a  terrible  spiritual  power,  outside 
of  us  as  well  as  within  us ;  as  needful  as  it  is 
that  we  confess  and  deplore  it  as  our  very  own, 
is  it  to  know  it  in  its  Satanic  origin.  If  this 
leads  us  to  utter  despair  of  ever  conquering  or 
casting  it  out,  it  will  lead  us  all  the  sooner  to 
that  supernatural  power  in  which  alone  our 
deliverance  is  to  be  found — the  redemption  of 
the  Lamb  of  God.  The  hopeless  struggle  against 
the  workings  of  self  and  pride  within  us  may 
indeed  become  still  more  hopeless  as  we  think 
of  the  power  of  darkness  behind  it  all ;  the  utter 
despair  will  fit  us  the  better  for  realising  and 
accepting  a  power  and  a  life  outside  of  our- 
selves too,  even  the  humility  of  heaven  as 
brought  down  and  brought  nigh  by  the  Lamb 
of  God,  to  cast  out  Satan  and  his  pride. 

No  tree  can  grow  except  on  the  root  from 
which  it  sprang.  Even  as  we  need  to  look  to 
the  first  Adam  and  his  fall  to  know  the  power 
of  the  sin  within  us,  we  need  to  know  well  the 
Second  Adam  and  His  power  to  give  within  us 
a  life  of  humility  as  real  and  abiding  and  over- 
mastering as  has  been  that  of  pride.     We  have 


DumtlttB. 


our  life  from  and  in  Christ,  as  truly,  yea  more 
truly,  than  from  and  in  Adam.  We  are  to  walk 
'  rooted  in  Him,'  '  holding  fast  the  Head  from 
whom  the  whole  body  increaseth  with  the  in- 
crease of  God.'  The  life  of  God  which  in  the 
incarnation  entered  human  nature,  is  the  root  in 
which  we  are  to  stand  and  grow ;  it  is  the  same 
almighty  power  that  worked  there,  and  thence 
onward  to  the  resurrection,  which  works  daily 
in  us.  Our  one  need  is  to  study  and  know  and 
trust  the  life  that  has  been  revealed  in  Christ  as 
the  life  that  is  now  ours,  and  waits  for  our  con- 
sent to  gain  possession  and  mastery  of  our  whole 
being. 

In  this  view  it  is  of  inconceivable  importance 
that  we  should  have  right  thoughts  of  what 
Christ  is,  of  what  really  constitutes  Him  the 
Christ,  and  specially  of  what  may  be  counted 
His  chief  characteristic,  the  root  and  essence  of 
all  His  character  as  our  Redeemer.  There  can 
be  but  one  answer :  it  is  His  humility.  What 
is  the  incarnation  but  His  heavenly  humility, 
His  emptying  Himself  and  becoming  man? 
What  is  His  life  on  earth  but  humility  ;  His 
taking  the  form  of  a  servant?  And  what  is  His 
atonement  but  humility?  *He  humbled  Him- 
self and  became  obedient  unto  death.'  And 
what   is    His    ascension    and    His    glory,    but 


•fcumtlitB:  XLbe  Secret  of  "Keoempnom   21 

humility  exalted  to  the  throne  and  crowned 
with  glory?  'He  humbled  Himself,  therefore 
God  highly  exalted  Him.'  In  heaven,  where 
He  was  with  the  Father,  in  His  birth,  in 
His  life,  in  His  death,  in  His  sitting  on  the 
throne,  it  is  all,  it  is  nothing  but  humility. 
Christ  is  the  humility  of  God  embodied  in 
human  nature;  the  Eternal  Love  humbling 
itself,  clothing  itself  in  the  garb  of  meekness 
and  gentleness,  to  win  and  serve  and  save  us. 
As  the  love  and  condescension  of  God  makes 
Him  the  benefactor  and  helper  and  servant 
of  all,  so  Jesus  of  necessity  was  the  Incarnate 
Humility.  And  so  He  is  still  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne,  the  meek  and  lowly  Lamb  of  God. 

If  this  be  the  root  of  the  tree,  its  nature  must 
be  seen  in  every  branch  and  leaf  and  fruit.  If 
humility  be  the  first,  the  all-including  grace  of 
the  life  of  Jesus, — if  humility  be  the  secret  of 
His  atonement, — then  the  health  and  strength  of 
our  spiritual  life  will  entirely  depend  upon  our 
putting  this  grace  first  too,  and  making  humility 
the  chief  thing  we  admire  in  Him,  the  chief 
thing  we  ask  of  Him,  the  one  thing  for  which  we 
sacrifice  all  else.^ 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Christian  life  is  so 
often  feeble  and  fruitless,  when  the  very  root 

1  See  Note  B. 
2 


DumtUtB^ 


of  the  Christ  life  is  neglected,  is  unknown  t  Is 
it  any  wonder  that  the  joy  of  salvation  is  so 
little  felt,  when  that  in  which  Christ  found  it 
and  brings  it,  is  so  little  sought?  Until  a 
humility  which  will  rest  in  nothing  less  than 
the  end  and  death  of  self ;  which  gives  up  all 
the  honour  of  men  as  Jesus  did,  to  seek  the 
honour  that  comes  from  God  alone;  which 
absolutely  makes  and  counts  itself  nothing,  that 
God  may  be  all,  that  the  Lord  alone  may  be 
exalted, — until  such  a  humility  be  what  we  seek 
in  Christ  above  our  chief  joy,  and  welcome  at 
any  price,  there  is  very  little  hope  of  a  religion 
that  will  conquer  the  world. 

I  cannot  too  earnestly  plead  w'th  my  reader, 
if  possibly  his  attention  has  never  yet  been 
specially  directed  to  the  want  there  is  of  humility 
within  him  or  around  him,  to  pause  and  ask 
whether  he  sees  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  meek 
and  lowly  Lamb  of  God  in  those  who  are  called 
by  His  name.  Let  him  consider  how  all  want 
of  love,  all  indifference  to  the  needs,  the 
feelings,  the  weakness  of  others ;  all  sharp  and 
hasty  judgments  and  utterances,  so  often  excused 
under  the  plea  of  being  outright  and  honest ;  all 
manifestations  of  temper  and  touchiness  and 
irritation ;  all  feelings  of  bitterness  and  estrange- 
ment,— have  theii  root  in  nothing  but  pride,  that 


fjumtllts ;  Zbe  Secret  ot  "ReOempiton.    23 

ever  seeks  itself,  and  his  eyes  will  be  opened  to 
see  how  a  dark,  shall  I  not  say  a  devilish  pride, 
creeps  in  almost  everywhere,  the  assemblies  of 
the  saints  not  excepted.  Let  him  begin  to  ask 
what  would  be  the  effect,  if  in  himself  and 
around  him,  if  towards  fellow-saints  and  the 
world,  believers  were  really  permanently  guided 
by  the  humility  of  Jesus ;  and  let  him  say  if  the 
cry  of  our  whole  heart,  night  and  day,  ought  not  to 
be.  Oh  for  the  humihty  of  Jesus  in  myself  and  all 
around  me  !  Let  him  honestly  fix  his  heart  on 
his  own  lack  of  the  humility  which  has  been  re- 
vealed in  the  likeness  of  Christ's  life,  and  in  the 
whole  character  of  His  redemption,  and  he  will 
begin  to  feel  as  if  he  had  never  yet  really  known 
what  Christ  and  His  salvation  is. 

Believer !  study  the  humility  of  Jesus.  This 
is  the  secret,  the  hidden  root  of  thy  redemption. 
Sink  down  into  it  deeper  day  by  day.  Believe 
with  thy  whole  heart  that  this  Christ,  whom 
God  has  given  thee,  even  as  His  divine  humility 
wrought  the  work  for  thee,  will  enter  in  to 
dwell  and  work  within  thee  too,  and  make  thee 
what  the  Father  would  have  thee  be. 


24  IbumlUtK. 


Humility:   The   Beauty   of  Holiness. 

III. 
tTbe  l)umtlitB  ot  Jcsvis. 

'  I  am  in  the  midst  of  you  as  he  that  serveth.* — Luke 
xxii.  26. 

IN  the  Gospel  of  John  we  have  the  inner  life 
of  our  Lord  laid  open  to  us.  Jesus  speaks 
frequently  of  His  relation  to  the  Father,  of 
the  motives  by  which  He  is  guided,  of  His 
consciousness  of  the  power  and  spirit  in  which 
He  acts.  Though  the  word  humble  does  not 
occur,  we  shall  nowhere  in  Scripture  see  so 
clearly  wherein  His  humility  consisted.  We 
have  already  said  that  this  grace  is  in  truth 
nothing  but  that  simple  consent  of  the  creature 
to  let  God  be  all,  in  virtue  of  which  it  surrenders 
itself  to  His  working  alone.  In  Jesus  we  shall 
see  how  both  as  the  Son  of  God  in  heaven,  and 
as  man  upon  earth.  He  took  the  place  of  entire 
subordination,  and  gave  God  the  honour  and  the 


XLbc  t)ummti2  of  jc&us. 


glory  which  is  due  to  Him.  And  what  He 
taught  so  often  was  made  true  to  Himself :  *  He 
that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.'  As  it 
is  written,  *  He  humbled  Himself,  therefore 
God  highly  exalted  Him.' 

Listen  to  the  words  in  which  our  Lord  speaks 
of  His  relation  to  the  Father,  and  see  how  un- 
ceasingly He  uses  the  words  not,  and  nothing,  of 
Himself.  The  not  I,  in  which  Paul  expresses 
his  relation  to  Christ,  is  the  very  spirit  of  what 
Christ  says  of  His  relation  to  the  Father. 

*  The  Son  can  do  nothing  of  Himself  (John  v.  19). 

'  I  can  of  My  own  self  do  nothing  ;  My  judg- 
ment is  just,  because  I  seek  not  Mine  own  will ' 
(John  V.  30). 

*I  receive  not  glory  from  men'  (John  v.  41). 

*  I  am  come  not  to  do  Mine  own  will'  (John  vi. 
38). 

*  My  teaching  is  not  Mine'  (John  vii.  16). 

*  I  am  not  come  of  Myself  '  (John  vii.  28). 
'  I  do  nothing  of  Myself '  (John  viii.  28). 

*  I  have  not  come  of  Myself,  but  He  sent  Me' 
(John  viii.  42). 

*  I  seek  not  Mine  own  glory '  (John  viii.  50). 

*  The  words  that  I  say,  I  speak  not  from  My- 
self'  (John  xi  v.  10). 

'The  word  which  ye  hear  is  not  Mine' 
(John  xiv.  24). 


•fcumlllti?. 


These  words  open  to  us  the  deepest  roots  ol 
Christ's  life  and  work.  They  tell  us  how  it  was 
that  the  Almighty  God  was  able  to  work  His 
mighty  redemption  work  through  Him.  They 
show  what  Christ  counted  the  state  of  heart 
which  became  Him  as  the  Son  of  the  Father. 
They  teach  us  what  the  essential  nature  and 
life  is  of  that  redemption  which  Christ  accom- 
plished and  now  communicates.  It  is  this  :  He 
was  nothing,  that  God  might  be  all.  He 
resigned  Himself  with  His  will  and  His  powers 
entirely  for  the  Father  to  work  in  Him.  Of 
His  own  power,  His  own  will,  and  His  own 
glory,  of  His  whole  mission  with  all  His  works 
and  His  teaching, — of  all  this  He  said.  It  is  not 
I ;  I  am  nothing;  I  have  given  Myself  to  the^ 
Father  to  work ;  I  am  nothing,  the  Father  is  all. 

This  life  of  entire  self-abnegation,  of  absolute 
submission  and  dependence  upon  the  Father's 
will,  Christ  found  to  be  one  of  perfect  peace 
and  joy.  He  lost  nothing  by  giving  all  to  God. 
God  honoured  His  trust,  and  did  all  for  Him, 
and  then  exalted  Him  to  His  own  right  hand  in 
glory.  And  because  Christ  had  thus  humbled 
Himself  before  God,  and  God  was  ever  before 
Him,  He  found  it  possible  to  himible  Himself 
before  men  too,  and  to  be  the  Servant  of  all. 
His  humility  was  simply  the  surrender  of  ffim 


Cbe  1bumiliti2  ot  jcem,  27 


self  to  God,  to  allow  Him  to  do  in  Him  what 
He  pleased,  whatover  men  around  might  say  of 
Him,  or  do  to  Him. 

It  is  in  this  state  of  mind,  in  this  spirit  and 
disposition,  that  the  redemption  of  Christ  has 
its  virtue  and  efficacy.  It  is  to  bring  us  to  this 
disposition  that  we  are  made  partakers  of  Christ. 
This  is  the  true  self-denial  to  which  our  Saviour 
calls  us,  the  acknowledgment  that  self  has 
nothing  good  in  it,  except  as  an  empty  vessel 
which  God  must  fill,  and  that  its  claim  to  be  or 
do  anything  may  not  for  a  moment  be  allowed. 
It  is  in  this,  above  and  before  everything,  in 
which  the  conformity  to  Jesus  consists,  the 
being  and  doing  nothing  of  ourselves,  that  God 
may  be  all. 

Here  we  have  the  root  and  nature  of  true 
humility.  It  is  because  this  is  not  understood 
or  sought  after,  that  our  humility  is  so  super- 
ficial and  so  feeble.  We  must  learn  of  Jesus, 
how  He  is  meek  and  lowly  of  heart.  He  teaches 
us  where  true  humility  takes  its  rise  and  finds 
its  strength — in  the  knowledge  that  it  is  God 
who  worketh  all  in  all,  that  our  place  is  to 
yield  to  Him  in  perfect  resignation  and  depend 
ence,  in  full  consent  to  be  and  to  do  nothing  of 
ourselves.  This  is  the  life  Christ  came  to 
reveal  and  to  impart — a  life  to  God  that  came 


2h  DumtUtB^ 


through  death  to  sin  and  self.  If  we  feel  that 
this  life  is  too  high  for  us  and  beyond  our 
reach,  it  must  but  the  more  urge  us  to  seek  it 
in  Him;  it  is  the  indwelling  Christ  who  will 
live  in  us  this  life,  meek  and  lowly.  If  we  long 
for  this,  let  us,  meantime,  above  everything,  seek 
the  holy  secret  of  the  knowledge  of  the  nature 
of  God,  as  He  every  moment  works  all  in  all ; 
the  secret,  of  which  all  nature  and  every  creature, 
and  above  all,  every  child  of  God,  is  to  be  the 
witness, — that  it  is  nothing  but  a  vessel,  a 
channel,  through  which  the  living  God  can 
manifest  the  riches  of  His  wisdom,  power,  and 
goodness.  The  root  of  all  virtue  and  grace,  of 
all  faith  and  acceptable  worship,  is  that  we 
know  that  we  have  nothing  but  what  we  receive, 
and  bow  in  deepest  humility  to  wait  upon  God 
for  it. 

It  was  because  this  humility  was  not  only 
a  temporary  sentiment,  wakened  up  and  brought 
into  exercise  when  He  thought  of  God,  but  the 
very  spirit  of  His  whole  life,  that  Jesus  was  just 
as  humble  in  His  intercourse  with  men  as  with 
God.  He  felt  Himself  the  Servant  of  God  for 
the  men  whom  God  made  and  loved;  as  a 
natural  consequence.  He  counted  Himself  the 
Servant  of  men,  that  through  Him  God  might 
do  His  work  of  love.     He  never  for  a  moment 


Hbc  ijumtUtB  of  5e0U0»  29 

thought  of  seeking  His  honour,  or  asserting 
His  power  to  vindicate  Himself.  His  whole 
spirit  was  that  of  a  life  yielded  to  God  to  work 
in.  It  is  not  until  Christians  study  the 
humility  of  Jesus  as  the  very  essence  of  His 
redemption,  as  the  very  blessedness  of  the  life 
of  the  Son  of  God,  as  the  only  true  relation  to 
the  Father,  and  therefore  as  that  which  Jesus 
must  give  us  if  we  are  to  have  any  part  with 
Him,  that  the  terrible  lack  of  actual,  heavenly, 
manifest  humility  will  become  a  burden  and  a 
sorrow,  and  our  ordinary  religion  be  set  aside 
to  secure  this,  the  first  and  the  chief  of  the 
marks  of  the  Christ  within  us. 

Brother,  are  you  clothed  with  humility? 
Ask  your  daily  life.  Ask  Jesus.  Ask  your 
friends.  Ask  the  world.  And  begin  to  praise 
God  that  there  is  opened  up  to  you  in  Jesus  a 
heavenly  humility  of  which  you  have  hardly 
known,  and  through  which  a  heavenly  blessed- 
ness you  possibly  have  never  yet  tasted  can 
come  in  to  you. 


30  IbumiUtg. 


Humility:   The   Beauty   of   Holiness. 

IV. 

IbumUtts  In  tbe  ^cacblng  of  Jcsmb, 

'  Learn  of  Me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of  heart.  * — 
Matt  xi.  29.  '  Whosoever  will  he  chief  among  you,  let 
him  he  your  servant,  even  as  the  Son  of  Man  camie  to 
serve.' — Matt.  xx.  27. 

WE  have  seen  humility  in  the  life  of  Christ, 
as  He  laid  open  His  heart  to  us :  let  us 
listen  to  His  teaching.  There  we  shall  hear  how 
He  speaks  of  it,  and  how  far  He  expects  men,  and 
specially  His  disciples,  to  be  humble  as  He  was. 
Let  us  carefully  study  the  passages,  which  I  can 
scarce  do  more  than  quote,  to  receive  the  full 
impression  of  how  often  and  how  earnestly  He 
taught  it:  it  may  help  us  to  realise  what  He 
asks  of  us. 

1.  Look  at  the  commencement  of  His  ministry. 
La  the  Beatitudes  with  which  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  opens,  He  speaks :  '  Blessed  are  the 
poor   in   ftpirit ;   for  theirs  is   the   kingdom   of 


5n  tbe  tTeacblna  ot  5esu6.  31 


heaven.  Blessed  are  the  meek ;  for  they  shall 
inherit  the  earth.*  The  very  first  words  of  His 
proclamation  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  reveal 
the  open  gate  through  which  alone  we  enter. 
The  poor,  who  have  nothing  in  themselves,  to 
them  the  kingdom  comes.  The  meek,  who  seek 
nothing  in  themselves,  theirs  the  earth  shall 
be.  The  blessings  of  heaven  and  earth  are  for 
the  lowly.  For  the  heavenly  and  the  earthly 
life,  humility  is  the  secret  of  blessing. 

2.  '  Learn  of  Me  ;  for  I  am  meek  and  loicly 
of  heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  for  your  souls.' 
Jesus  ofi"ers  Himself  as  Teacher.     He   tells   us 
what  the  spirit  both  is,  which  we  shall  find  in 
Him  as  Teacher,  and  which  we  can  learn  and 
receive  from  Him.     Meekness  and  lowliness  is  ^ 
the  one  thing  He  ofi'ers  us ;  in  it  we  shall  find  I 
perfect   rest   of   soul.      Humility   is   to  be  our  ) 
salvation. 

3.  The  disciples  had  been  disputing  who  would 
be  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom,  and  had  agreed 
to  ask  the  Master  (Luke  ix.  46 ;  Matt,  xviii.  3). 
He  set  a  child  in  their  midst,  and  said,  *  Who- 
soever shall  humble  himself  as  this  little  child, 
shall  he  exalted.'  *  Who  is  the  greatest  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  1 '  The  question  is  indeed  a 
far-reaching  one.  What  will  be  the  chief  dis- 
tinction in  the  heavenly  kingdom  ?    The  answer, 


33  DumtUti?. 


none  but  Jesus  would  have  given.  The  chief 
glory  of  heaven,  the  true  heavenly-mindedness. 
the  chief  of  the  graces,  is  humility.  *  He  that 
is  least  among  you,  the  same  shall  be  great.' 

4.  The  sons  of  Zebedee  had  asked  Jesus  to  sit 
»n  His  right  and  left,  the  highest  place  in  the 
kingdom.  Jesus  said  it  was  not  His  to  give,  but 
the  Father's,  who  would  give  it  to  those  for  whom 
it  was  prepared.  They  must  not  look  or  ask  for 
it.  Their  thought  must  be  of  the  cup  and  the 
baptism  of  humiliation.  And  then  He  added, 
'Whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  he 
your  servant.  Even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  to 
serve.'  Humility,  as  it  is  the  mark  of  Christ 
the  heavenly,  will  be  the  one  standard  of  glory 
in  heaven :  the  lowliest  is  the  nearest  to  God. 
The  primacy  in  the  Church  is  promised  to  the 
humblest. 

5.  Speaking  to  the  multitude  and  the  dis- 
ciples, of  the  Pharisees  and  their  love  of  the 
chief  seats,  Christ  said  once  again  (Matt, 
xxxiii.  11),  'He  that  is  greatest  amo7ig  you  shall 
be  your  servant'  Humiliation  is  the  only  ladder 
to  honour  in  God's  kingdom. 

6.  On  another  occasion,  in  the  house  of  a 
Pharisee,  He  spoke  the  parable  of  the  guest  who 
would  be  invited  to  come  up  higher  (Luke  xiv. 
l-ll),  and  added,  *  For  whosoever  exdlteth  him< 


5n  tbc  ZcacbiwQ  oi  Jceue.  33 

self  shall  be  abased  ;  and  he  that  humbleth  himselj 
shall  be  exalted  J  The  demand  is  inexorable  \ 
there  is  no  other  way.  Self-abasement  alone 
will  be  exalted. 

7.  After  the  parable  of  the  Pharisee  and  the 
Publican,  Christ  spake  again  (Luke  xviii.  14), 
'  Everyone  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased ; 
and  he  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.' 
In  the  temple  and  presence  and  worship  of  God, 
everything  is  worthless  that  is  not  pervaded  by 
deep,  true  humility  towards  God  and  men. 

8.  After  washing  the  disciples'  feet,  Jesus  said 
(John  xiii.  14),  ^  If  I  then,  the  Lord  and  Master, 
have  washed  your  feet,  ye  also  ought  to  wash  one 
another's  feet. ^  The  authority  of  command  and 
example,  every  thought,  either  of  obedience  or 
conformity,  make  humility  the  first  and  most 
essential  element  of  discipleship. 

9.  At  the  Holy  Supper  table,  the  disciples  still 
disputed  who  should  be  greatest  (Luke  xxii.  26). 
Jesus  said, '  He  that  is  greatest  among  you,  let  him 
be  as  the  younger;  and  he  that  is  chief,  as  he 
that  doth  serve.  I  am  among  you  as  he  that 
serveth.'  The  path  in  which  Jesus  walked,  and 
which  He  opened  up  for  us,  the  power  and  spirit 
in  which  He  wrought  out  salvation,  and  to  which 
He  saves  us,  is  ever  the  humility  that  makes  me 
the  servant  of  all. 


34  t)umUitB. 


How  little  this  is  preached.  How  little  it  is 
practised.  How  little  the  lack  of  it  is  felt  or 
confessed.  I  do  not  say,  how  few  attain  to  it, 
some  recognisable  measure  of  likeness  to  Jesns 
in  His  humility.  But  how  few  ever  think  of 
making  it  a  distinct  object  of  continual  desire  or 
prayer.  How  little  the  world  has  seen  it. 
How  little  has  it  been  seen,  even  in  the  inner 
circle  of  the  Church, 

*  Whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  servant'  Would  God  that  it  might  be 
given  us  to  believe  that  Jesus  means  this  !  We  all 
know  what  the  character  of  a  faithful  servant  or 
slave  implies.  Devotion  to  the  master's  interests, 
thoughtful  study  and  care  to  please  him,  delight 
in  his  prosperity  and  honour  and  happiness. 
There  are  servants  on  earth  in  whom  these 
dispositions  have  been  seen,  and  to  whom  the 
name  of  servant  has  never  been  anything  but  a 
glory.  To  how  many  of  us  has  it  not  been  a 
new  joy  in  the  Christian  life  to  know  that  we 
may  yield  ourselves  as  servants,  as  slaves  to 
God,  and  to  find  that  His  service  is  our  highest 
liberty, — the  liberty  from  sin  and  self?  We 
need  now  to  learn  another  lesson, — that  Jesus 
calls  us  to  be  servants  of  one  another,  and  that, 
as  we  accept  it  heartily,  this  service  too  will  be  a 
most  blessed  one,  a  new  and  fuller  liberty  too 


5n  tbe  ^teacbtn^  of  ^esus.  35 

from  sin  and  self.  At  first  it  may  appear  hard  r 
this  is  only  because  of  the  pride  which  still 
counts  itself  something.  If  once  we  learn  that 
to  be  nothing  before  God  is  the  glory  of  the 
creature,  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  the  joy  of  heaven, 
we  shall  welcome  with  our  whole  heart  the  dis- 
cipline we  may  have  in  serving  even  those  who 
try  or  vex  us.  When  our  own  heart  is  set  upon 
this,  the  true  sanctification,  we  shall  study  each 
word  of  Jesus  on  self-abasement  with  new  zest, 
and  no  place  will  be  too  low,  and  no  stooping 
too  deep,  and  no  service  too  mean  or  too  long 
continued,  if  we  may  but  share  and  prove  the 
fellowship  with  Him  who  spake,  *  I  am  among 
you  as  he  that  serveth.' 

Brethren,  here  is  the  path  to  the  higher 
life.  Down,  lower  down !  This  was  what 
Jesus  ever  said  to  the  disciples  who  were  think- 
ing of  being  great  in  the  kingdom,  and  of  sitting 
on  His  right  hand  and  His  left.  Seek  not,  ask 
not  for  exaltation ;  that  is  God's  work.  Look  to  it 
that  you  abase  and  humble  yourselves,  and  take 
no  place  before  God  or  man  but  that  of  servant ; 
that  is  your  work ;  let  that  be  your  one  purpose 
and  prayer.  God  is  faithful.  Just  as  water 
ever  seeks  and  fills  the  lowest  place,  so  the 
moment  God  finds  the  creature  abased  and  empty, 
His   glory  and    power  flow  in  to  exalt  and   to 


•fcummtg. 


bless.  He  that  humbleth  himself — that  must 
be  our  one  care — shall  be  exalted;  that  is  God's 
care;  by  His  mighty  power  and  in  His  great  love 
He  will  do  it. 

Men  sometimes  speak  as  if  humility  and  meek- 
ness would  rob  us  of  what  is  noble  and  bold  and 
manlike.  Oh  that  all  would  believe  that  this 
is  the  nobility  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  that 
this  is  the  royal  spirit  that  the  King  of  heaven 
displayed,  that  this  is  Godlike,  to  humble  oneself, 
to  become  the  servant  of  all !  This  is  the  path 
to  the  gladness  and  the  glory  of  Christ's  presence 
ever  in  us,  His  power  ever  resting  on  us. 

Jesus,  the  meek  and  lowly  One,  calls  us  to 
learn  of  Him  the  path  to  God.  Let  us  study 
the  words  we  have  been  reading,  until  our  heart 
is  filled  with  the  thought:  My  one  need  is 
humility.  And  let  us  believe  that  what  He 
shows.  He  gives ;  what  He  is.  He  imparts.  As 
the  meek  and  lowly  One,  He  will  come  in  and 
dwell  in  the  longing  heart. 


an  tbe  Wiecwus  ot  5eauB,  37 


Humility:   The   Beauty  of  Holiness. 

V. 

DumllitB  tn  tbe  H)lsclple0  ot  Jesus. 

'  Let  him  that  is  chief  among  you  he  as  he  that  doth 
serve.' — Luke  xxii.  26 

WE  have  studied  humility  in  the  person  and 
teaching  of  Jesus;  let  us  now  look  for 
it  in  the  circle  of  His  chosen  companions — the 
twelve  apostles.  If,  in  the  lack  of  it  we  find 
in  them,  the  contrast  between  Christ  and  men 
is  brought  out  more  clearly,  it  will  help  us 
to  appreciate  the  mighty  change  which  Pente- 
cost wrought  in  them,  and  prove  how  real  our 
participation  can  be  in  the  perfect  triumph  of 
Christ's  humility  over  the  pride  Satan  had 
breathed  into  man. 

In  the  texts  quoted  from  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
we  have  already  seen  what  the  occasions  were 
on  which  the  disciples  had  proved  how  entirely 
wanting  they  were  in  the  grace  of  humility. 
Once,  they  had  been  disputing  by  the  way  which 


38  t3umtltts. 


of  them  should  be  the  greatest.  Another  time, 
the  sons  of  Zebedee  with  their  mother  had  asked 
for  the  first  places — the  seat  on  the  right  hand 
and  the  left.  And,  later  on,  at  the  Supper  table 
on  the  last  night,  there  was  again  a  contention 
which  should  be  accounted  the  greatest.  Not 
that  there  were  not  moments  when  they  indeed 
humbled  themselves  before  their  Lord.  So  it 
was  with  Peter  when  he  cried  out,  '  Depart 
from  me,  0  Lord,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man.'  So, 
too,  with  the  disciples  when  they  fell  down 
and  worshipped  Him  who  had  stilled  the  storm. 
But  such  occasional  expressions  of  humility  only 
bring  out  into  stronger  relief  what  was  the  habit- 
ual tone  of  their  mind,  as  shown  in  the  natural  and 
spontaneous  revelation  given  at  other  times  of 
the  place  and  the  power  of  self.  The  study  of 
the  meaning  of  all  this  will  teach  us  most 
important  lessons. 

First,  How  much  there  may  he  of  earnest  and 
active  religion  while  humility  is  still  sadly  wanting. 
— See  it  in  the  disciples.  There  was  in  them 
fervent  attachment  to  Jesus.  They  had  for- 
saken all  for  Him.  The  Father  had  revealed  to 
them  that  He  was  the  Christ  of  God.  They 
believed  in  Him,  they  loved  Him,  they  obeyed 
His  commandment*.  They  had  forsaken  all  to 
follow   Him,      When  others    went   back,   they 


5n  tbe  ©tsctplcs  of  5esu0.  39 

clave  to  Him.  They  were  ready  to  die  with 
Him.  But  deeper  down  than  all  this  there 
was  a  dark  power,  of  the  existence  and  the 
hideousness  of  which  they  were  hardly  conscious, 
which  had  to  be  slain  and  cast  out,  ere  they 
could  be  the  witnesses  of  the  power  of  Jesus  to 
save.  It  is  even  so  still.  We  may  find  pro- 
fessors and  ministers,  evangelists  and  workers, 
missionaries  and  teachers,  in  whom  the  gifts 
of  the  Spirit  are  many  and  manifest,  and  who 
are  the  channels  of  blessing  to  multitudes,  but 
of  whom,  when  the  testing  time  comes,  or  closer 
hitercourse  gives  fuller  knowledge,  it  is  only 
too  painfully  manifest  that  the  grace  of  humility, 
as  an  abiding  characteristic,  is  scarce  to  be  seen. 
All  tends  to  confirm  the  lesson  that  humility  is 
one  of  the  chief  and  the  highest  graces ;  one  of 
the  most  difficult  of  attainment ;  one  to  which 
our  first  and  chiefest  efi'orts  ought  to  be  directed ; 
one  that  only  comes  in  power,  when  the  fulness 
of  the  Spirit  makes  us  partakers  of  the  indwell- 
ing Christ,  and  He  lives  within  us. 

Second,  How  impotent  all  external  teaching 
and  all  personal  effort  w,  to  conquer  pride  or  give 
the  meek  and  lowly  Jieart. — For  three  years  the 
disciples  had  been  in  the  training  school  of 
Jesus.  He  had  told  them  what  the  chief  lesson 
was  He  wished  to  teach  them :  '  Learn  of  Me, 


40  t)umtltti?. 


for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart.'  Time  after 
time  He  had  spoken  to  them,  to  the  Pharisees, 
to  the  multitude,  of  humility  as  the  only  path 
to  the  glory  of  God.  He  had  not  only  lived 
before  them  as  the  Lamb  of  God  in  His  divine 
humility,  He  had  more  than  once  unfolded  to 
them  the  inmost  secret  of  His  life  :  '  The  Son  of 
Man  came  not  to  be  served,  but  so  serve ';  *I  am 
among  you  as  one  that  serveth.'  He  had  washed 
their  feet,  and  told  them  they  were  to  follow 
His  example.  And  yet  all  had  availed  bu< 
little.  At  the  Holy  Supper  there  was  still  the 
contention  as  to  who  should  be  greatest.  They 
had  doubtless  often  tried  to  learn  His  lessons, 
and  firmly  resolved  not  again  to  grieve  Him. 
But  all  in  vain.  To  teach  them  and  us  the  much- 
needed  lesson,  that  no  outward  instruction,  not 
even  of  Christ  Himself ;  no  argument,  however 
convincing ;  no  sense  of  the  beauty  of  humility, 
however  deep;  no  personal  resolve  or  effort, 
however  sincere  and  earnest, — can  cast  out 
the  devil  of  pride.  When  Satan  casts  out 
Satan,  it  is  only  to  enter  afresh  in  a  mightier, 
though  more  hidden  power.  Nothing  can  avail 
but  this,  that  the  new  nature  in  its  divine 
humility  be  revealed  in  power  to  take  the 
place  of  the  old,  to  become  as  truly  our  very 
nature  as  that  ever  was. 


5n  tbc  Dlsciplea  of  ^csub.  41 

Third,  It  is  only  hy  the  indwelling  of  Christ 
in  His  divine  humility  that  we  become  truly 
humble. — We  have  our  pride  from  another,  from 
Adam  ;  we  must  have  our  humility  from  Another 
too.  Pride  is  ours,  and  rules  in  us  with  such 
terrible  power,  because  it  is  ourself,  our  very 
nature.  Humility  must  be  ours  in  the  same 
way  ;  it  must  be  our  very  self,  our  very  nature. 
As  natural  and  easy  as  it  has  been  to  be  proud, 
it  must  be,  it  will  be,  to  be  humble.  The 
promise  is,  'Where,'  even  in  the  heart,  *sin 
abounded,  grace  did  abound  more  exceedingly.' 
All  Christ's  teaching  of  His  disciples,  and  all 
their  vain  efforts,  were  the  needful  preparation 
for  His  entering  into  them  in  divine  power, 
to  give  and  be  in  them  what  He  had  taught 
them  to  desire.  In  His  death  He  destroyed  the 
power  of  the  devil.  He  put  away  sin,  and  effected 
an  everlasting  redemption.  In  His  resurrection 
He  received  from  the  Father  an  entirely  new 
life,  the  life  of  man  in  the  power  of  God,  capable 
of  being  communicated  to  men,  and  entering  and 
renewing  and  filling  their  lives  with  His  divine 
power.  In  His  ascension  He  received  the 
Spirit  of  the  Father,  through  whom  He  might 
do  what  He  could  not  do  while  upon  earth, 
make  Himself  one  with  those  He  loved,  actually 
live   their   life  for    them,   so    that  they    could 


DumtUtg. 


live  before  the  Father  in  a  humility  like  His, 
because  it  was  Himself  who  lived  and  breathed 
in  them.  And  on  Pentecost  He  came  and  took 
possession.  The  work  of  preparation  and  convic- 
tion, the  awakening  of  desire  and  hope  which 
His  teaching  had  effected,  was  perfected  by  the 
mighty  change  that  Pentecost  wrought.  And 
the  lives  and  the  epistles  of  James  and  Peter 
and  John  bear  witness  that  all  was  changed,  and 
that  the  spirit  of  the  meek  and  suffering  Jesus 
had  indeed  possession  of  them. 

What  shall  we  say  to  these  things  t  Among 
my  readers  I  am  sure  there  is  more  than  one 
class.  There  may  be  some  who  have  never  yet 
thought  very  specially  of  the  matter,  and  cannot 
at  once  realise  its  immense  importance  as  a  life 
question  for  the  Church  and  its  every  member. 
There  are  others  who  have  felt  condemned  for 
their  shortcomings,  and  have  put  forth  very 
earnest  efforts,  only  to  fail  and  be  discouraged. 
Others,  again,  may  be  able  to  give  joyful  testi- 
mony of  spiritual  blessing  and  power,  and  yet 
there  has  never  been  the  needed  conviction  of 
what  those  around  them  still  see  as  wanting. 
And  still  others  may  be  able  to  witness  that 
in  regard  to  this  grace  too  the  Lord  has  given 
deliverance  and  victory,  while  He  has  taught 
them  how  much  they  still  need  and  may  expect 


5n  tbe  mscivics  ot  ^esus.  43 

out  of  the  fulness  of  Jesus.  To  whichever  class 
we  belong,  may  I  urge  the  pressing  need  there  is 
for  our  all  seeking  a  still  deeper  conviction  of  the 
unique  place  that  humility  holds  in  the  religion 
of  Christ,  and  the  utter  impossibility  of  the 
Church  or  the  believer  being  what  Christ  would 
have  them  be,  as  long  as  His  humility  is  not 
recognised  as  His  chief  glory ^  His  first  command, 
and  our  highest  blessedness.  Let  us  consider 
deeply  how  far  the  disciples  were  advanced 
while  this  grace  was  still  so  terribly  lacking, 
and  let  us  pray  to  God  that  other  gifts  may 
not  so  satisfy  us,  that  we  never  grasp  the  fact 
that  the  absence  of  this  grace  is  the  secret  cause 
why  the  power  of  God  cannot  do  its  mighty 
work.  It  is  only  where  we,  like  the  Son,  truly 
know  and  show  that  we  can  do  nothing  of  our- 
selves, that  God  will  do  all. 

It  is  when  the  truth  of  an  indwelling  Christ 
takes  the  place  it  claims  in  the  experience  of 
believers,  that  the  Church  will  put  on  her 
beautiful  garments,  and  humility  be  seen  in 
her  teachers  and  members  as  the  beauty  of 
holiness 


44  Dumiutig. 


Humility:   The   Beauty   of  Holiness. 

VI. 

"DumllttB  in  Dalli?  %iU. 

He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  haih  seen,  how 
can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  f ' — 1  John  iv.  20. 

TXT  HAT  a  solemn  thought,  that  our  love  to 
^  ^  God  will  be  measured  by  our  everyday 
intercourse  with  men  and  the  love  it  displays ; 
and  that  our  love  to  God  will  be  found  to  be  a 
delusion,  except  as  its  truth  is  proved  in  standing 
the  test  of  daily  life  with  our  fellow-men.  It  is 
even  so  with  our  humility.  It  is  easy  to  think  we 
humble  ourselves  before  God:  humility  towards 
men  will  be  the  only  sufficient  proof  that  our  hu- 
mility before  God  is  real ;  that  humility  has  taken 
up  its  abode  in  us,  and  become  our  very  nature ; 
that  we  actually,  like  Christ,  have  made  ourselves 
of  no  reputation.  When  in  the  presence  of  God 
lowliness  of  heart  has  become,  not  a  posture 
we  assume  for  a  time,  when  we  think  of  Him, 
or  pray  to  Him,  but  the  very  spirit  of  our  life, 


5n  DallB  Xtie.  45 

it  will  manifest  itself  in  all  our  bearing  towards 
our  brethren.  The  lesson  is  one  of  deep  import : 
the  only  humility  that  is  really  ours  is  not  that 
which  we  try  to  show  before  God  in  prayer,  but 
that  which  we  carry  with  us,  and  carry  out,  in 
our  ordinary  conduct ;  the  insignificances  of  daily 
life  are  the  importances  and  the  tests  of  eternity, 
because  they  prove  what  really  is  the  spirit  that 
possesses  us.  It  is  in  our  most  unguarded 
moments  that  we  really  show  and  see  what  we 
are.  To  know  the  humble  man,  to  know  how 
the  humble  man  behaves,  you  must  follow  him 
in  the  common  course  of  daily  life. 

Is  not  this  what  Jesus  taught?  It  was  when 
the  disciples  disputed  who  should  be  greatest ; 
when  He  saw  how  the  Pharisees  loved  the 
chief  place  at  feasts  and  the  chief  seats  in  the 
synagogues  5  when  He  had  given  them  the 
example  of  washing  their  feet, — that  He  taught 
His  lessons  of  humility.  Humility  before  God  is 
nothing  if  not  proved  in  humility  before  men. 

It  is  even  so  in  the  teaching  of  Paul.  To  the 
Romans  He  writes  :  '  In  honour  preferring  one 
another';  'Set  not  your  mind  on  high  things, 
but  condescend  to  those  that  are  lowly ' ;  '  Be  not 
wise  in  your  own  conceit.'  To  the  Corinthians : 
'  Love,'  and  there  is  no  love  without  humility  as 
its  root,  '  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up, 


46  Dumiuts* 


seeketh  not  its  own,  is  not  provoked.'  To  the 
Gralatians :  '  Through  love  be  servants  one  of 
another.  Let  us  not  be  desirous  of  vainglory, 
provoking  one  another,  envying  one  another.' 
To  the  Ephesians,  immediately  after  the  three 
wonderful  chapters  on  the  heavenly  life  :  *  There- 
fore, walk  with  all  lowliness  and  meekness,  with 
long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in  love'; 

*  Giving  thanks  always,  subjecting  yourselves  one 
to  another  in  the  fear  of  Christ.'  To  the  Philip- 
pians  :  '  Doing  nothing  through  faction  or  vain- 
glory, but  in  lowliness  of  mind,  each  counting 
other  better  than  himself.  Have  the  mind  in 
you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus,  who 
emptied  Himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant, 
and  himibled  Himself.'     And  to  the  Colossians: 

*  Put  on  a  heart  of  compassion,  kindness,  humility, 
meekness,  long-suffering,  forbearing  one  another, 
and  forgiving  each  other,  even  as  the  Lord  for- 
gave you.'  It  is  in  our  relation  to  one  another, 
in  our  treatment  of  one  another,  that  the  true 
lowliness  of  mind  and  the  heart  of  humility  are  to 
be  seen.  Our  humility  before  God  has  no  value, 
but  as  it  prepares  us  to  reveal  the  humility  of 
Jesus  to  our  fellow-men.  Let  us  study  humility 
in  daily  life  in  the  light  of  these  words. 

The  humble  man  seeks  at  all  times  to  act  up 
to  the  rule,  •  In  honour  preferring  one  another ; 


5n  Batlg  Ulte*  47 


Servants  one  oj  another ;  Each  counting  othen 
better  thaji  himself ;  Subjecting  yourselves  one  to 
another.^  The  question  is  often  asked,  how  we 
can  count  others  better  than  ourselves,  when  we 
see  that  they  are  far  below  us  in  wisdom  and 
in  holiness,  in  natural  gifts,  or  in  grace  received. 
The  question  proves  at  once  how  little  we 
understand  what  real  lowliness  of  mind  is.  True 
humility  comes  when,  in  the  Kght  of  God,  we 
have  seen  oijjrselves  to  be  nothing,  have  con- 
sented to  part  with  and  cast  away  self,  to  let 
God  be  all.  The  soul  that  has  done  this,  and 
can  say.  So  have  I  lost  myself  in  finding  Thee, 
no  longer  compares  itself  with  others.  It  has 
given  up  for  ever  every  thought  of  self  in  God's 
presence  j  it  meets  its  fellow-men  as  one  who  i& 
nothing,  and  seeks  nothing  for  itself ;  who  is  a 
servant  of  God,  and  for  His  sake  a  servant  of 
all.  A  faithful  servant  may  be  wiser  than  the 
master,  and  yet  retain  the  true  spirit  and  posture 
of  the  servant.  The  humble  man  looks  upon 
every,  the  feeblest  and  unworthiest,  child  of 
God,  and  honours  him  and  prefers  him  in 
honour  as  the  son  of  a  King.  The  spirit  of  Him 
who  washed  the  disciples'  feet,  makes  it  a  joy 
to  us  to  be  indeed  the  least,  to  be  servants  one 
of  another. 

The   humble  map  feels  no  jealousy  or  envy. 


48  DumtltiB. 


He  can  praise  God  when  others  are  preferred 
and  blessed  before  him.  He  can  bear  to  hear 
others  praised  and  himself  forgotten,  because  in 
God's  presence  he  has  learnt  to  say  with  Paul, 
'I  am  nothing.'  He  has  received  the  spirit  of 
Jesus,  who  pleased  not  Himself,  and  sought  not 
His  own  honour,  as  the  spirit  of  his  life. 

Amid  what  are  considered  the  temptations  to 
impatience  and  touchiness,  to  hard  thoughts  and 
sharp  words,  which  come  from  the  failings  and 
sins  of  fellow-Christians,  the  humble  man  carries 
the  oft-repeated  injunction  in  his  heart,  and 
shows  ft  in  his  life,  ^Forbearing  one  another ^ 
and  forgiving  one  another,  even  as  the  Lord 
forgave  you.'  He  has  learnt  that  in  putting  on 
the  Lord  Jesus  he  Jias  put  on  the  heart  oj 
compassion^  Jdndness,  humility,  meekness,  and 
long-suffering.  Jesus  has  taken  the  place  of 
self,  and  it  is  not  an  impossibility  to  forgive  as 
Jesus  forgave.  His  humility  does  not  consist 
merely  in  thoughts  or  words  of  self -depreciation, 
but,  as  Paul  puts  it,  in  *a  heart  of  humility,' 
encompassed  by  compassion  and  kindness,  meek 
ness  and  long-suffering, — the  sweet  and  lowly 
gentleness  recognised  as  the  mark  of  the  Lamb 
of  God. 

La  striving  after  the  higher  experiences  of 
the  Christian  life,  the  believer  is  often  in  dangei 


^n  S)aUB  Xlte.  49 


of  aiming  at  and  rejoicing  in  what  one  might 
call  the  more  human,  the  manly,  virtues,  such  a^ 
boldness,  joy,  contempt  of  the  world,  zeal,  self- 
sacrifice, — even  the  old  Stoics  taught  and  practised 
these, — while  the  deeper  and  gentler,  the  diviner 
and  more  heavenly  graces,  those  which  Jesus  first 
taught  upon  earth,  because  He  brought  them 
from  heaven;  those  which  are  more  distinctly 
connected  with  ffis  cross  and  the  death  of  self, — 
poverty  of  spirit,  meekness,  humility,  lowliness, 
— are  scarcely  thought  of  or  valued.  Therefore, 
let  us  put  on  a  heart  of  compassion,  kindness, 
himiility,  meekness,  long-suffering;  and  let  us 
prove  our  Christ-likeness,  not  only  in  our  zeal 
for  saving  the  lost,  but  before  all  in  our  inter- 
course with  the  brethren,  forbearing  and  for- 
giving one  another,  even  as  the  Lord  forgave  vs. 
Fellow-Christians,  do  let  us  study  the  Bible 
portrait  of  the  humble  man.  And  let  us  ask 
our  brethren,  and  ask  the  world,  whether  th^y 
recognise  in  us  the  likeness  to  the  original.  Let 
us  be  content  with  nothing  less  than  taking 
each  of  these  texts  as  the  promise  of  what  God 
will  work  in  us,  as  the  revelation  in  words  of 
what  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  will  give  as  a  birth 
within  us.  And  let  each  failure  and  short- 
coming simply  urge  us  to  turn  humbly  and 
meekly  to  the  meek  and  lowly  Lamb  of  God, 


so  DumilttB, 


in  the  assurance  that  where  He  is  enthroned  In 
the  heart,  His  humility  and  gentleness  will  be 
one  of  the  streams  of  living  water  that  flow  from 
within  us.i 

Once  again  I  repeat  what  I  have  said  before. 
I  feel  deeply  that  we  have  very  little  conception 
of  what  the  Church  suffers  from  the  lack  of  this 
divine  humility, — the  nothingness  that  makes 
room  for  God  to  prove  His  power.  It  is  not 
long  since  a  Christian,  of  an  humble,  loving 
spirit,  acquainted  with  not  a  few  mission  stations 
of  various  societies,  expressed  his  deep  sorrow 
that  in  some  cases  the  spirit  of  love  and  forbear- 
ance was  sadly  lacking.  Men  and  women,  who 
in  Europe  could  each  choose  their  own  circle  of 
friends,  brought  close  together  with  others  of 
uncongenial  minds,  find  it  hard  to  bear,  and  to 
love,  and  to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace.  And  those  who  should  have 
been  fellow-helpers  of  each  other's  joy,  became 

*  'I  knew  Jesns,  and  He  was  very  precious  to  my 
soul :  but  I  found  something  in  me  that  would  not  keep 
aweet  and  patient  and  kind.  I  did  what  I  could  to  keep 
it  down,  but  it  was  there.  I  besought  Jesus  to  do  some- 
thing for  me,  and  when  I  gave  Him  my  will,  He  came 
to  my  heart,  and  took  out  all  that  would  not  be  sweet, 
hU  that  would  not  be  kind,  all  that  would  not  be 
patient,  and  then  He  shut  the  door.' — Geobge  Foxb. 


5n  DatlB  %itc.  51 

a  hindrance  and  a  weariness.  And  all  for  the 
one  reason,  the  lack  of  the  humility  which 
counts  itself  nothing,  which  rejoices  in  becoming 
and  being  counted  the  least,  and  only  seeks,  like 
Jesus,  to  be  the  servant,  the  helper  and  comforter 
of  others,  even  the  lowest  and  unworthiest. 

And  whence  comes  it  that  men  who  have 
joyfully  given  up  themselves  for  Christ,  find  it 
so  hard  to  give  up  themselves  for  their  brethren  1 
Is  not  the  blame  with  the  Church  ?  It  has  so 
little  taught  its  sons  that  the  humility  of  Christ 
is  the  first  of  the  virtues,  the  best  of  all  the 
graces  and  powers  of  the  Spirit.  It  has  so  little 
proved  that  a  Christlike  humility  is  what  it, 
like  Christ,  places  and  preaches  first,  as  what 
is  in  very  deed  needed,  and  possible  too.  But 
let  us  not  be  discouraged.  Let  the  discovery  of 
the  lack  of  this  grace  stir  us  to  larger  expecta- 
tion from  God.  Let  us  look  upon  every  brother 
who  tries  or  vexes  us,  as  God's  means  of  grace, 
God's  instrument  for  our  purification,  for  our 
exercise  of  the  humility  Jesus  our  Life  breathes 
within  us.  And  let  us  have  such  faith  in  the 
All  of  God,  and  the  nothing  of  self,  that,  as 
nothing  in  our  own  eyes,  we  may,  in  God'? 
power,  only  seek  to  serve  one  another  in  love. 


UumtUtis. 


Humility:   The   Beauty  of  Holiness, 

VIL 

IbumilltB  anD  tboKneas, 

'  Which  say,  Stand  by  thyself;  for  I  am  holier  tham 
thou.'—lsAiAK  Ixv.  5. 

WE  speak  of  the  Holiness  movement  in  our 
times,  and  praise  God  for  it.  We  hear  a 
great  deal  of  seekers  after  holiness  and  professors 
of  holiness,  of  holiness  teaching  and  holiness 
meetings.  The  blessed  truths  of  holiness  in 
Christ,  and  holiness  by  faith,  are  being  emphasised 
as  never  before.  The  great  test  of  whether  the 
holiness  we  profess  to  seek  or  to  attain,  is  truth 
and  life,  will  be  whether  it  he  manifest  in 
the  increasing  humility  it  produces.  In  the 
creature,  humility  is  the  one  thing  needed  to 
allow  God's  holiness  to  dwell  in  him  and  shine 
through  him.  In  Jesus,  the  Holy  One  of  God 
who  makes  us  holy,  a  divine  humility  was  the 
secret  of  His  Kfe  and  His  death  and  His  exalta- 
tion ;    the  one  infallible  test  of  our  holiness  will 


DumtlltB  ano  Doltness.  53 

be  the  humility  before  God  and  men  which 
marks  us.  Humility  is  the  bloom  and  the 
beauty  of  holiness. 

The  chief  mark  of  counterfeit  holiness  is  its 
lack  of  humility.  Every  seeker  after  holiness 
needs  to  be  on  his  guard,  lest  unconsciously 
what  was  begun  in  the  spirit  be  perfected  in  the 
flesh,  and  pride  creep  in  where  its  presence  is 
least  expected.  Two  men  went  up  into  the 
temple  to  pray :  the  one  a  Pharisee,  the  other  a 
publican.  There  is  no  place  or  position  so 
sacred  but  the  Pharisee  can  enter  there.  Pride 
can  lift  its  head  in  the  very  temple  of  God,  and 
make  His  worship  the  scene  of  its  self -exalta- 
tion. Since  the  time  Christ  so  exposed  his 
pride,  the  Pharisee  has  put  on  the  garb  of 
the  publican,  and  the  confessor  of  deep  sinful- 
ness equally  with  the  professor  of  the  highest 
holiness,  must  be  on  the  watch.  Just  when  we 
are  most  anxious  to  have  our  heart  the  temple 
of  God,  we  shall  find  the  two  men  coming  up 
to  pray.  And  the  publican  will  find  that  his 
danger  is  not  from  the  Pharisee  beside  him,  who 
despises  him,  but  the  Pharisee  within  who  com- 
mends and  exalts.  In  God's  temple,  when  we 
think  we  are  in  the  holiest  of  all,  in  the 
presence  of  His  holiness,  let  us  beware  of  pride. 
'Now  there  was  a  day  when  the  sons  of  God 


54  IbumllltB* 


came  to  present  themselves  before  the  Lord,  and 
Satan  came  also  among  them.' 

*  God,  I  thank  thee,  I  am  not  as  the  rest  of 
men,  or  even  as  this  publican.'  It  is  in  that 
which  is  just  cause  for  thanksgiving,  it  is  in  the 
very  thanksgiving  which  we  render  to  God,  it 
may  be  in  the  very  confession  that  God  has 
done  it  all,  that  self  finds  its  cause  of  com- 
placency. Yes,  even  when  in  the  temple  the 
language  of  penitence  and  trust  in  God's  mercy 
alone  is  heard,  the  Pharisee  may  take  up  the 
note  of  praise,  and  in  thanking  God  be  con- 
gratulating himself.  Pride  can  clothe  itself  in 
the  garments  of  praise  or  of  penitence.  Even 
though  the  words,  *  I  am  not  as  the  rest  of  men  * 
are  rejected  and  condemned,  their  spirit  may 
too  often  be  found  in  our  feelings  and  language 
towards  our  fellow-worshippers  and  fellow-men. 
Would  you  know  if  this  really  is  so,  just  listen 
to  the  way  in  which  Churches  and  Christians 
often  speak  of  one  another.  How  little  of  the 
meekness  and  gentleness  of  Jesus  is  to  be  seen. 
It  is  so  little  remembered  that  deep  humility 
must  be  the  keynote  of  what  the  servants  of 
Jesus  say  of  themselves  or  each  other.  Is  there 
not  many  a  Church  or  assembly  of  the  saints, 
many  a  mission  or  convention,  many  a  society 
or   committee,  even  many    a    mission    away  in 


DumtUtB  atiD  •bollnesB.  ss 

heathendom,  where  the  harmony  has  been  dis- 
turbed and  the  work  of  God  hindered,  because 
men  who  are  counted  saints  have  proved  in 
touchiness  and  haste  and  impatience,  in  self- 
defence  and  self-assertion,  in  sharp  judgments 
and  unkind  words,  that  they  did  not  each  reckon 
others  better  than  themselves,  and  that  their 
holiness  has  but  little  in  it  of  the  meekness  of 
the  saints  ?  ^  In  their  spiritual  history  men  may 
have  had  times  of  great  humbling  and  broken- 
ness,  but  what  a  different  thing  this  is  from 
being  clothed  with  humility,  from  having  an 
humble  spirit,  from  having  that  lowliness  of 
mind  in  which  each  counts  himself  the  servant 
of  others,  and  so  shows  forth  the  very  mind 
which  was  also  in  Jesus  Christ. 

*  Stand  by;  for  I  am  holier  than  thou/'  What 
a  parody  on  holiness  !  Jesus  the  Holy  One  is  the 
humble  One  :  the  holiest  will  ever  be  the  hum- 
blest. There  is  none  holy  but  God  :  we  have  as 
much   of  holiness   as   we   have  of   God.     And 


^  '  Mb  is  a  most  exacting  personage,  requiring  the 
best  seat  and  the  highest  place  for  itself,  and  feeling 
grievously  wounded  if  its  claim  is  not  recognised. 
Most  of  the  quarrels  among  Christian  workers  arise 
from  the  clamouring  of  this  gigantic  Me.  How  few 
of  us  understand  the  true  secret  of  taking  our  seats  in 
the  lowest  rooms.' — Mrs.  Smith,  JSveryday  Jieligion. 


56  Dumtlttr. 


according  to  what  we  have  of  God  will  be  oui 
real  humility,  because  humility  is  nothing  but 
the  disappearance  of  self  in  the  vision  that  God 
is  all.  The  holiest  will  be  the  humblest  Alas  ! 
though  the  barefaced  boasting  Jew  of  the  daya 
of  Isaiah  is  not  often  to  be  found, — even  oui 
manners  have  taught  us  not  to  speak  thus, — how 
often  his  spirit  is  still  seen,  whether  in  the  treat- 
ment of  fellow-saints  or  of  the  children  of  the 
world.  In  the  spirit  in  which  opinions  are  given, 
and  work  is  undertaken,  and  faults  are  exposed, 
how  often,  though  the  garb  be  that  of  the  pub- 
lican, the  voice  is  still  that  of  the  Pharisee  :  '  O 
God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as  other  men.' 
And  is  there,  then,  such  humility  to  be  found, 
that  men  shall  indeed  still  count  themselves 
*  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,'  the  servants  of 
alii  There  is.  'Love  vaunteth  not  itself,  is 
not  puffed  up,  seeketh  not  its  own.'  Where 
the  spirit  of  love  is  shed  abroad  in  the  heart, 
where  the  divine  nature  comes  to  a  full  birth, 
where  Christ  the  meek  and  lowly  Lamb  of  God 
is  truly  formed  within,  there  is  given  the  power 
of  a  perfect  love  that  forgets  itself  and  finds  its 
blessedness  in  blessing  others,  in  bearing  with 
them  and  honouring  them,  however  feeble  they 
be.  Where  this  love  enters,  there  God  enters. 
And  where  God  has  entered  in  His  power,  and 


DumiUtc  anO  t>oltne00.  S7 

reveals  Himself  as  All,  there  the  creature  be- 
comes nothing.  And  where  the  creature  becomes 
nothing  before  God,  it  cannot  be  anything  but 
humble  towards  the  fellow-creature.  The  pre- 
sence of  God  becomes  not  a  thing  of  times  and 
seasons,  but  the  covering  under  which  the  soul 
ever  dwells,  and  its  deep  abasement  before  God 
becomes  the  holy  place  of  His  presence  whence 
all  its  words  and  works  proceed. 

May  God  teach  us  that  our  thoughts  and  words 
and  feelings  concerning  our  fellow-men  are  His 
test  of  our  humility  towards  Him,  and  that  our 
humility  before  Him  is  the  only  power  that  can 
enable  us  to  be  always  humble  with  our  fellow- 
men.  Our  humility  must  be  the  life  of  Christ, 
the  Lamb  of  God,  within  us. 

Let  all  teachers  of  holiness,  whether  in  the 
pulpit  or  on  the  platform,  and  all  seekers  after 
holiness,  whether  in  the  closet  or  the  convention, 
take  warning.  There  is  no  pride  so  dangerous, 
because  none  so  subtle  and  insidious,  as  the  pride 
of  holiness.  It  is  not  that  a  man  ever  says,  or 
even  thinks,  '  Stand  by ;  I  am  holier  than  thou.' 
No,  indeed,  the  thought  would  be  regarded  with 
abhorrence.  But  there  grows  up,  all  unconsciously, 
a  hidden  habit  of  soul,  which  feels  complacency 
in  its  attainments,  and  cannot  help  seeing  how 
far  it  is  in  advance  of  others.     It  can   be  recog 


58  DumtUti^* 


nised,  not  always  in  any  special  self-assertion 
or  self-laudation,  but  simply  in  the  absence  of 
that  deep  self-abasement  which  cannot  but  be 
the  mark  of  the  soul  that  has  seen  the  glory  of 
God  (Job  xlii.  5,  6 ;  Isa.  vi.  5).  It  reveals  itself, 
not  only  in  words  or  thoughts,  but  in  a  tone,  a 
way  of  speaking  of  others,  in  which  those  who 
have  the  gift  of  spiritual  discernment  cannot 
but  recognise  the  power  of  self.  Even  the 
world  with  its  keen  eyes  notices  it,  and  points  to 
it  as  a  proof  that  the  profession  of  a  heavenly 
life  does  not  bear  any  specially  heavenly  fruits. 
0  brethren !  let  us  beware.  Unless  we  make, 
with  each  advance  in  what  we  think  holiness, 
the  increase  of  humility  our  study,  we  may 
find  that  we  have  been  delighting  in  beautiful 
thoughts  and  feelings,  in  solemn  acts  of  consecra- 
tion and  faith,  while  the  only  sure  mark  of  the 
presence  of  God,  the  disappearance  of  self,  was 
all  the  time  wanting.  Come  and  let  us  flee  to 
Jesus,  and  hide  ourselves  in  Him  until  we  be 
clothed  upon  with  His  humility.  That  alone  is 
our  holiness. 


t)umilit]?  and  Siru  $9 


Humility:   The   Beauty  of  Holiness. 

VIII. 

IbumilitB  anJ)  Sin. 

*  Sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief.' — 1  Tim.  i.  15. 

TTUMILITY  is  often  identified  with  peni- 
-*--■-  tence  and  contrition.  As  a  consequence, 
there  appears  to  be  no  way  of  fostering  humil- 
ity but  by  keeping  the  soul  occupied  with  its 
sin.  We  have  learned,  I  think,  that  humility 
is  something  else  and  something  more.  We 
have  seen  in  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  Jesus  and 
the  Epistles  how  often  the  virtue  is  inculcated 
without  any  reference  to  sin.  In  the  very  nature 
of  things,  in  the  whole  relation  of  the  creature  to 
the  Creator,  in  the  life  of  Jesus  as  He  lived  it 
and  imparts  it  to  us,  humility  is  the  very 
essence  of  holiness  as  of  blessedness.  It  is  the 
displacement  of  self  by  the  enthronement  of 
God     Where  God  is  all,  self  is  nothing. 

But  though  it  is  this  aspect  of  the  truth  I 
ha^-e  felt  it  specially  needful  to  press,  I  need 


6o  DumilttB. 


scarce  say  what  new  depth  and  intensity  man's 
sin  and  God's  grace  give  to  the  humility  of  the 
saints.  We  have  only  to  look  at  a  man  like  the 
Apostle  Paul,  to  see  how.  through  his  life  as  a 
ransomed  and  a  holy  man,  the  deep  consciousness 
of  having  been  a  sinner  lives  inextinguishably. 
We  all  know  the  passages  in  which  he  refers  to 
his  life  as  a  persecutor  and  blasphemer.  '  I  am 
the  least  of  the  apostles^  that  am  not  worthy  to 
he  called  an  apostle^  because  I  persecuted  the 
Church  of  God.  ...  I  laboured  more  abundantly 
than  they  all ;  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God 
which  was  with  me'  (1  Cor.  xv.  9,  10).  *Unto  me, 
who  am  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints^  was  this 
grace  given,  to  preach  to  the  heathen '  (Eph. 
iii.  8).  *  I  was  before  a  blasphemer,  and  a  per- 
secutor, and  injurious ;  howbeit  I  obtained  mercy, 
because  I  did  it  ignorantly  in  unbelief.  .  .  .  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of 
whom  J  am  chief  (1  Tim.  i.  13, 15).  God's  grace 
had  saved  him ;  God  remembered  his  sins  no 
more  for  ever;  but  never,  never  could  he  forget 
how  terribly  he  had  sinned.  The  more  he 
rejoiced  in  God's  salvation,  and  the  more  his 
experience  of  God's  grace  filled  him  with  joy 
unspeakable,  the  clearer  was  his  consciousness 
that  he  was  a  saved  sinner,  and  that  salvation 
had  no  meaning  or  sweetness  except  as  the  sense 


mtmtUti?  anD  Stiu  6i 

of  his  being  a  sinner  made  it  precious  and  real 
to  him.  Never  for  a  moment  could  he  forget 
that  it  was  a  sinner  God  had  taken  up  in  His 
arms  and  crowned  with  His  love. 

The  texts  we  have  just  quoted  are  often 
appealed  to  as  Paul's  confession  of  daily  sinning. 
One  has  only  to  read  them  carefully  in  their 
connection,  to  see  how  little  this  is  the  case. 
They  have  a  far  deeper  meaning,  they  refer  to 
that  which  lasts  throughout  eternity,  and  which 
will  give  its  deep  undertone  of  amazement  and 
adoration  to  the  humility  with  which  the  ran- 
somed bow  before  the  throne,  as  those  who  have 
been  washed  from  their  sins  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb.  Never,  never,  even  in  glory,  can  they 
be  other  than  ransomed  sinners;  never  for  a 
moment  in  this  life  can  God's  child  live  in 
the  full  light  of  His  love,  but  as  he  feels  that 
the  sin,  out  of  which  he  has  been  saved,  is  his 
one  only  right  and  title  to  all  that  grace  has 
promised  to  do.  The  humility  with  which 
first  he  came  as  a  sinner,  acquires  a  new  mean- 
ing when  he  learns  how  it  becomes  him  as  a 
creature.  And  then  ever  again,  the  humility,  in 
which  he  was  bom  as  a  creature,  has  its  deepest, 
richest  tones  of  adoration,  in  the  memory  of 
what  it  is  to  be  a  monument  of  God's  wondrous 
redeeming  love. 


62  t)umtuti?* 


The  true  import  of  what  these  expressions 
of  St.  Paul  teach  us  comes  out  all  the  more 
strongly  when  we  notice  the  remarkable  fact 
that,  through  his  whole  Christian  course,  we 
never  find  from  his  pen,  even  in  those  epistles 
in  which  we  have  the  most  intensely  personal 
unbosomings,  anything  like  confession  of  sin. 
Nowhere  is  there  any  mention  of  shortcoming  or 
defect,  nowhere  any  suggestion  to  his  readers 
that  he  has  failed  in  duty,  or  sinned  against  the 
law  of  perfect  love.  On  the  contrary,  there  are 
passages  not  a  few  in  which  he  vindicates  him- 
self in  language  that  means  nothing  if  it  does  not 
appeal  to  a  faultless  life  before  God  and  men. 
*  Ye  are  witnesses,  and  God  also,  how  holily, 
and  righteously,  and  unblameably  we  behaved 
ourselves  toward  you  '  (1  Thess.  ii.  10).  *  Our 
glorying  is  this,  the  testimony  of  our  conscience, 
that  in  holiness  and  sincerity  of  God  we  behaved 
ourselves  in  the  world,  and  more  abundantly 
to  you  ward '  (2  Cor.  L  12).  This  is  not  an 
ideal  or  an  aspiration;  it  is  an  appeal  to  what  his 
actual  life  had  been.  However  we  may  account 
for  this  absence  of  confession  of  sin,  all  will 
admit  that  it  must  point  to  a  life  in  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  such  as  is  but  seldom  realised 
or  expected  in  these  our  days. 

The  point  which  I  wish  to  emphasise  is  this — 


I)umtllti2  anO  Sin*  63 


that  the  very  fact  of  the  absence  of  such  con- 
fession of  sinning  only  gives  the  more  force  to 
the  truth  that  it  is  not  in  daily  sinning  that  the 
secret  of  the  deeper  humility  will  be  found,  but 
in  the  habitual,  never  for  a  moment  to  be  for- 
gotten position,  which  just  the  more  abundant 
grace  will  keep  more  distinctly  alive,  that  our 
only  place,  the  only  place  of  blessing,  our  one 
abiding  position  before  God,  must  be  that  of 
those  whose  highest  joy  it  is  to  confess  that 
they  are  sinners  saved  by  grace. 

With  Paul's  deep  remembrance  of  having 
sinned  so  terribly  in  the  past,  ere  grace  had  met 
him,  and  the  consciousness  of  being  kept  from 
present  sinning,  there  was  ever  coupled  the 
abiding  remembrance  of  the  dark  hidden  power 
of  sin  ever  ready  to  come  in,  and  only  kept  out 
by  the  presence  and  power  of  the  indwelling 
Christ.  '  In  me,  that  is,  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth 
no  good  thing;' — these  words  of  Rom.  vii.  de- 
scribe the  flesh  as  it  is  to  the  end.  The  glorious 
deliverance  of  Rom.  viii. — '  The  law  of  the  Spirit 
of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  now  made  me  free 
from  the  law  of  sin,  which  once  led  me  captive  * 
— is  neither  the  annihilation  nor  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  flesh,  but  a  continuous  victory  given 
by  the  Spirit  as  He  mortifies  the  deeds  of  the 
body.       As    health     expels    disease,    and    light 


DumtUty. 


swallows  up  darkness,  and  life  conquers  death, 
the  indwelling  of  Christ  through  the  Spirit  is 
the  health  and  light  and  life  of  the  soul.  But 
with  this,  the  conviction  of  helplessness  and 
danger  ever  tempers  the  faith  in  the  momentary 
and  unbroken  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  into 
that  chastened  sense  of  dependence  which  makes 
the  highest  faith  and  joy  the  handmaids  of  a 
humility  that  only  lives  by  the  grace  of  God. 

The  three  passages  above  quoted  all  show 
that  it  was  the  wonderful  grace  bestowed  upon 
Paul,  and  of  which  he  felt  the  need  every 
moment,  that  humbled  him  so  deeply.  The 
grace  of  God  that  was  with  him,  and  enabled  him 
to  labour  more  abundantly  than  they  all;  the 
grace  to  preach  to  the  heathen  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ ;  the  grace  that  was  exceeding 
abundant  with  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus, — it  was  this  grace  of  which  it  is  the  very 
nature  and  glory  that  it  is  for  sinners,  that  kept 
the  consciousness  of  hia  having  once  sinned,  and 
being  liable  to  sin,  so  intensely  alive.  '  Where 
sin  aboTinded,  grace  did  abound  more  exceed- 
ingly.' This  reveals  how  the  very  essence  of 
grace  is  to  deal  with  and  take  away  sin,  and 
how  it  must  ever  be :  the  more  abundant 
the  experience  of  grace,  the  mere  intense 
the  consciousness  of  being  a  sinner.     It  is  not 


Dumtutp  ano  Sttu 


sin,  but  God's  grace  showing  a  man  and  ever 
reminding  him  what  a  sinner  he  was,  that  will 
keep  him  truly  humble.  It  is  not  sin,  but 
grace,  that  will  make  me  indeed  know  myself 
a  sinner,  and  make  the  sinner's  place  of  deepest 
self-abasement  the  place  I  never  leave. 

I  fear  that  there  are  not  a  few  who,  by 
strong  expressions  of  self-condemnation  and 
self-denunciation,  have  sought  to  humble  them- 
selves, and  have  to  confess  with  sorrow  that  a 
humbl*  spirit,  a  'heart  of  humility,'  with  its 
accompaniments  of  kindness  and  compassion,  of 
meekness  and  forbearance,  is  still  as  far  off  as 
ever.  Being  occupied  with  self,  even  amid  the 
deepest  self -abhorrence,  can  never  free  us  from  self 
U  is  the  revelation  of  God,  not  only  by  the  law 
condemning  sin,  but  by  His  grace  deUvering  from 
it,  that  will  make  us  humble.  The  law  may  break 
the  heart  with  fear ;  it  is  only  grace  that  works 
that  sweet  humility  which  becomes  a  joy  to  the 
soul  as  its  second  nature.  It  was  the  revela- 
tion of  God  in  His  holiness,  drawing  nigh 
to  make  Himself  known  in  His  grace,  that  made 
Abraham  and  Jacob,  Job  and  Isaiah,  bow  so  low. 
It  is  the  soul  in  which  God  the  Creator,  as  the 
All  of  the  creature  in  its  nothingness,  God  the 
Redeemer  in  His  grace,  as  the  All  of  the  sinner 
in    his   sinfulness,   is   waited   for    and    trusted 


66  Dumtutt^. 


and  worshipped,  that  will  find  itself  so  filled 
with  His  presence,  that  there  will  be  no  place 
for  self.  So  alone  can  the  promise  be  fulfilled  : 
'  The  haughtiness  of  man  shall  be  brought  low, 
and  the  Lord  alone  be  exalted  in  that  day.* 

It  is  the  sinner  dwelling  in  the  full  light  of 
God's  holy,  redeeming  love,  in  the  experience 
of  that  full  indwelling  of  divine  love,  which 
comes  through  Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  who 
cannot  but  be  humble.  Not  to  be  occupied  with 
thy  sin,  but  to  be  occupied  with  God,  bringa 
deliverance  from  self, 


DumiUtg  ano  jfaltb.  67 


Humility:   The   Beauty   ot   Holiness. 

IX. 

•fcumiUtB  and  Jaitb. 

*Ho'U}  can  ye  believe,  which  receive  glory  from  one 
another,  and  the  glory  that  cometh  from  the  only  Ood  ye 
$eeJc  »u?<f '— John  v,  44. 

IN  an  address  I  lately  heard,  the  speaker  said 
that  the  blessings  of  the  higher  Christian  life 
were  often  like  the  objects  exposed  in  a  shop 
window, — one  could  see  them  clearly,  and  yet 
could  not  reach  them.  If  told  to  stretch  out  his 
hand  and  take,  a  man  would  answer,  I  cannot ; 
there  is  a  thick  pane  of  plate-glass  between  me 
and  them.  And  even  so  Christians  may  see 
clearly  the  blessed  promises  of  perfect  peace  and 
rest,  of  overflowing  love  and  joy,  of  abiding 
communion  and  fniitfulness,  and  yet  feel  that 
there  was  something  between,  hindering  the  true 
possession.  And  what  might  that  be  ?  Nothing 
hut  pride.  The  promises  made  to  faith  are  so 
free  and  sure;  the  invitations  and  encouragementa 


68  l)umtutc. 


so  strong ;  the  mighty  power  of  God  on  which  it 
may  count  is  so  near  and  free, — that  it  can  only 
be  something  that  hinders  faith  that  hinders 
the  blessing  being  ours.  In  our  text  Jesus 
discovers  to  us  that  it  is  indeed  pride  that  makes 
faith  impossible.  '  How  can  ye  believe,  which 
receive  glory  from  one  another  V  As  we  see 
how  in  their  very  nature  pride  and  faith  are 
irreconcilably  at  variance,  we  shall  learn  that 
faith  and  humility^j,re  at^^ot  one,  and  that 
weloeveFcan  have  more  of  true  faith  than  we 
have  of  true  humility  ;  we  shall  see  that  we 
may  indeed  have  strong  intellectual  conviction 
and  assurance  of  the  truth  while  pride  is  kept  in 
the  heart,  but  that  it  makes  the  living  faith, 
which  has  power  with  God,  an  impossibility. 

We  need  only  think  for  a  moment  what  faith  \ 
is.     Is  it  not  the  confession  of  nothingness  and 
helplessness,  the  surrender  and  the  waiting  to  J 
let  God  work?      Is   it   not  in  itself  the  most 
humbling  thing   there  can  be, — the  acceptance 
of  our  place  as  dependents,  who  can  claim  or  get 
or  do  nothing  but  what  grace  bestows  1  Humility  \ 
is   simply   the   disposition  which  prepares   the/ 
soul  for  living  on  trust.     And  every,  even  the 
most  secret  breathing  of  pride,  in  self-seeking, 
self-will,  self-confidence,  or  self-exaltation,  is  just 
the  strengthening  of  that  self  which  cannot  enter 


IbumtlitB  atiD  ^altb,  69 

the  kingdom,  or  possess  the  things  of  the  king 
dom,  because  it  refuses  to  allow  God  to  be  what 
He  is  and  must  be  there — the  All  in  All. 

Faith  is  the  organ  or  sense  for  the  perception 
and  apprehension  of  the  heavenly  world  and  its 
blessings.  Faith  seeks  the  glory  that  comes 
from  God,  that  only  comes  where  God  is  All. 
As  long  as  we  take  glory  from  one  another, 
as  long  as  ever  we  seek  and  love  and  jealously 
guard  the  glory  of  this  life,  the  honour  and 
reputation  that  comes  from  men,  we  do  not 
seek,  and  cannot  receive  the  glory  that  comes 
from  God.  Pride  renders  faith  impossible. 
Salvation  comes  through  a  cross  and  a  crucified 
Christ.  Salvation  is  the  fellowship  with  the 
crucified  Christ  in  the  spirit  of  His  cross. 
Salvation  is  union  with  and  delight  in,  salvation 
is  participation  in,  the  humility  of  Jesus.  Is  it 
wonder  that  our  faith  is  so  feeble  when  pride 
Btill  reigns  so  macu,  and  we  have  scarce  learnt 
even  to  long  or  pray  for  humility  as  the  most 
needful  and  blessed  part  of  salvation  ? 

Humility  and  faith  are  more  nearly  allied  in 
Scripture  than  many  know.  See  it  in  the  life 
Df  Christ.  There  are  two  cases  in  which  He 
spoke  of  a  great  faith.  Had  not  the  centurion, 
at  whose  faith  He  marvelled,  saying,  *  I  have  not 
found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel ! '  spoken, 


70  tbumilitB. 


'  /  am  not  worthy  that  Thou  shouldst  come  under 
my  roof '  ?  And  had  not  the  mother  to  whom 
He  spoke,  '  0  woman,  great  is  thy  faith  !'  accepted 
the  name  of  dog,  and  said,  *  Yea^  Lord^  yet  the 
dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs '  ?  It  is  the  humiHty  that 
brings  a  soul  to  be  nothing  before  God,  that  also 
removes  every  hindrance  to  faith,  and  makes  it 
only  fear  lest  it  should  dishonour  Him  by  not 
trusting  Him  wholly. 

Brother,  have  we  not  here  the  cause  of 
failure  in  the  pursuit  of  holiness?  Is  it  not 
this,  though  we  knew  it  not,  that  made  oui 
consecration  and  our  faith  so  superficial  and  so 
shortlived  1  We  had  no  idea  to  what  an  extent 
pride  and  self  were  still  secretly  working  within 
us,  and  how  alone  God  by  His  incoming  and 
His  mighty  power  could  cast  them  out.  We 
understood  not  how  nothing  but  the  new  and 
divine  nature,  taking  entirely  the  place  of  the 
old  self,  could  make  us  really  humble.  We 
knew  not  that  absolute,  unceasing,  universal 
humility  must  be  the  root-disposition  of  every 
prayer  and  every  approach  to  God  as  well 
as  of  every  dealing  with  man;  and  that  we 
might  as  well  attempt  to  see  without  eyes,  or 
live  without  breath,  as  believe  or  draw  nigh  to 
God  or  dwell  in  His  love,  without  an  all-oervad- 
ing  humility  and  lowliness  of  heart. 


DumllitB  anO  ifaltb.  71 

Brother,  have  we  not  been  making  a  mistake 
In  taking  so  much  trouble  to  believe,  while  all 
the  time  there  was  the  old  self  in  its  pride 
seeking  to  possess  itself  of  God's  blessing  and 
riches  ?  No  wonder  we  could  not  believe.  Let 
us  change  our  course.  Let  us  seek  first  of  all 
to  humble  ourselves  under  the  mighty  hand 
of  God :  He  will  exalt  us.  The  cross,  and  the 
death,  and  the  grave,  into  which  Jesus  humbled 
Himself,  were  His  path  to  the  glory  of  God. 
And  they  are  our  path.  Let  our  one  desire  and 
our  fervent  prayer  be,  to  be  humbled  with  Him 
and  like  Him ;  let  us  accept  gladly  whatever 
can  humble  us  before  God  or  men ; — this  alone 
is  the  path  to  the  glory  of  God. 

You  perhaps  feel  inclined  to  ask  a  question. 
I  have  spoken  of  some  who  have  blessed  ex- 
periences, or  are  the  means  of  bringing  blessing 
to  others,  and  yet  are  lacking  in  humility.  You 
ask  whether  these  do  not  prove  that  they  have 
true,  even  strong  faith,  though  they  show  too 
clearly  that  they  still  seek  too  much  the  honour 
that  Cometh  from  men.  There  is  more  than  one 
answer  can  be  given.  But  the  principal  answer 
in  our  present  connection  is  this  :  They  indeed 
have  a  measure  of  faith,  in  proportion  to  which, 
with  the  special  gifts  bestowed  upon  them,  is 
the  bleSvsing  they  bring  to  others.     But  in  that 


72  ijumtUtB. 


very  blessing  the  work  of  their  faith  is  hindered 
through  the  lack  of  humility.  The  blessing  is 
often  superficial  or  transitory,  just  because  they 
are  not  the  nothing  that  opens  the  way  for  God 
to  be  all.  A  deeper  humility  would  without 
doubt  bring  a  deeper  and  fuller  blessing.  The 
Holy  Spirit  not  only  working  in  them  as  a 
Spirit  of  power,  but  dwelling  in  them  in  the 
fulness  of  His  grace,  and  specially  that  of 
humility,  would  through  them  communicate 
Himself  to  these  converts  for  a  life  of  power 
and  holiness  and  steadfastness  now  all  too  little 
seen. 

'  How  can  ye  believe,  which  receive  glory  from 
one  another  ? '  Brother  !  nothing  can  ciire  you  of 
the  desire  of  receiving  glory  from  men,  or  ol 
the  sensitiveness  and  pain  and  anger  which  come 
when  it  is  not  given,  but  giving  yourself  to 
seek  only  the  glory  that  comes  from  God.  Let 
the  glory  of  the  All-glorious  God  be  everything 
to  you.  You  will  be  freed  from  the  glory  of  i 
men  and  of  self,  and  be  content  and  glad  to  be 
nothing.  Out  of  this  nothingness  you  will  grow 
strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God,  and  you 
will  find  that  the  deeper  you  sink  in  humihty 
before  Him,  the  nearer  He  is  to  fulfil  the  every 
desire  of  your  faith. 


Dumlllti?  anO  H)catb  to  Selt,  73 


Humility:   The   Beauty  of  Holiness. 
Dumllltfi  anD  Dcatb  to  Selt 

'  He  humbled  Himself  and  became  obedieni  unto  death.' 
—Phil.  ii.  8. 

TTUMILITY  is  the  path  to  death,  because  in 
-■— *-  death  it  gives  the  highest  proof  of  its 
perfection.  Humility  is  the  blossom  of  which 
death  to  self  is  the  perfect  fruit.  Jesus  humbled 
Himself  unto  death,  and  opened  the  path  in 
which  we  too  must  walk.  As  there  was  no 
way  for  Him  to  prove  His  surrender  to  God  to 
the  very  uttermost,  or  to  give  up  and  rise  out 
of  our  human  nature  to  the  glory  of  the  Father 
but  through  death,  so  with  us  too.  Humility 
must  lead  us  to  die  to  self :  so  we  prove  how 
wholly  we  have  given  ourselves  up  to  it  and  to 
God ;  so  alone  we  are  freed  from  fallen  nature, 
and  find  the  path  that  leads  to  life  in  God,  to 
that  full  birth  of  the  new  nature,  of  which 
humility  Is  the  breath  and  the  joy. 


74  t)umtlttc. 


We  have  spoken  of  what  Jesus  did  for  His 
disciples  when  He  communicated  His  resurrec- 
tion life  to  them,  when  in  the  descent  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  He,  the  glorified  and  enthroned 
Meekness,  actually  came  from  heaven  Himself 
to  dwell  in  them.  He  won  the  power  to  do  this 
through  death :  in  its  inmost  nature  the  life  He 
imparted  was  a  life  out  of  death,  a  Ufe  that  had 
been  surrendered  to  death,  and  been  won  through 
death.  He  who  came  to  dwell  in  them  was  Him- 
self One  who  had  been  dead  and  now  lives  for 
evermore.  His  life.  His  person,  His  presence, 
bears  the  marks  of  death,  of  being  a  life  be- 
gotten out  of  death.  That  life  in  His  disciples 
ever  bears  the  death-marks  too ;  it  is  only  as  the 
Spirit  of  the  death,  of  the  dying  One,  dwells  and 
works  in  the  soul,  that  the  power  of  His  life  can 
be  known.  The  first  and  chief  of  the  marks  of 
the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  of  the  death-marks 
that  show  the  true  follower  of  Jesus,  is  humility. 
For  these  two  reasons :  Only  humility  leads  to 
perfect  death;  Only  death  perfects  humility. 
Humility  and  death  are  in  their  very  nature 
one :  humility  is  the  bud ;  in  death  the  fruit  is 
ripened  to  perfection. 

Humility  leads  to  perfect  death. — Humility 
means  the  giving  up  of  self,  and  the  taking  of 
the  place  of   perfect  nothingness   before   God 


UumiUt^  anD  iDeatb  to  Sell.  75 


Jesus  humbled  Himself,  and  became  obedient 
unto  death.  In  death  He  gave  the  highest,  the 
perfect  proof  of  having  given  up  His  will  to  the 
will  of  God.  In  death  He  gave  up  His  self, 
with  its  natural  reluctance  to  drink  the  cup ;  He 
gave  up  the  life  He  had  in  union  with  our  human 
nature ;  He  died  to  self,  and  the  sin  that  tempted 
Him;  so,  as  man.  He  entered  into  the  perfect 
life  of  God.  If  it  had  not  been  for  His  bound- 
less humility,  counting  Himself  as  nothing  ex- 
cept as  a  servant  to  do  and  suffer  the  will  of 
God,  He  never  would  have  died. 

This  gives  us  the  answer  to  the  question  so 
often  askea,  and  of  which  the  meaning  is  so 
seldom  clearly  apprehended :  How  can  I  die  to 
self  1  The  death  to  self  is  not  your  work,  it  is 
God's  work.  In  Christ  you  are  dead  to  sin ;  the 
life  there  is  in  you  has  gone  through  the  pro- 
cess of  death  and  resurrection ;  you  may  be  sure 
you  are  indeed  dead  to  sin.  But  the  full  mani- 
festation of  the  power  of  this  death  in  your  dis- 
position and  conduct,  depends  upon  the  measure 
in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  imparts  the  power  of 
the  death  of  Christ.  And  here  it  is  that  the 
teaching  is  needed :  if  you  would  enter  into  full 
fellowship  with  Christ  in  His  death,  and  know 
the  full  deliverance  from  self,  humble  yourself. 
This  is  your  one  duty.     Place  yourself  before 


76  DumilltB. 


God  in  your  utter  helplessness  ;  consent  heartily 
to  the  fact  of  your  impotence  to  slay  or  make 
alive  yourself ;  sink  down  into  your  own  nothing- 
ness, in  the  spirit  of  meek  and  patient  and  trust- 
ful surrender  to  God.  Accept  every  humiliation, 
look  upon  every  fellow-man  who  tries  or  vexes 
you,  as  a  means  of  grace  to  humble  you.  Use 
every  opportunity  of  humbling  yourself  before 
your  fellow-men  as  a  help  to  abide  humble 
before  God.  God  will  accept  such  humbling  of 
yourself  as  the  proof  that  your  whole  heart  de- 
sires it,  as  the  very  best  prayer  for  it,  as  your  pre- 
paration for  His  mighty  work  of  grace,  when,  by 
the  mighty  strengthening  of  His  Holy  Spirit, 
He  reveals  Christ  fully  in  you,  so  that  He, 
in  His  form  of  a  servant,  is  truly  formed  in 
you,  and  dwells  in  your  heart  It  is  the  path 
of  humility  leads  to  perfect  death,  the  full 
and  perfect  experience  that  we  are  dead  in 
Christ. 

Then  follows  :  Only  this  death  leads  to  perfect 
humility.  Oh,  beware  of  the  mistake  so  many 
make,  who  would  fain  be  humble,  but  are  afraid 
to  be  too  humble.  They  have  so  many  qualifica- 
tions and  limitations,  so  many  reasonings  and 
questionings,  as  to  what  true  humility  is  to  be 
and  to  do,  that  they  never  unreservedly  yield 
themselves    to   it.     Beware  of   this.      Humble 


DumUttB  anJ)  H)eatb  to  Selt  77 

yourself  unto  the  death.  It  is  in  the  death  to 
self  that  humility  is  perfected.  Be  sure  that 
at  the  root  of  all  real  experience  of  more  grace, 
of  all  true  advance  in  consecration,  of  all  actually 
increasing  conformity  to  the  likeness  of  Jesus, 
there  must  be  a  deadness  to  self  that  proves  itself 
to  God  and  men  in  our  dispositions  and  habits. 
It  is  sadly  possible  to  speak  of  the  death-life 
and  the  Spirit-walk,  while  even  the  tenderest 
love  cannot  but  see  how  much  there  is  of  self. 
The  death  to  self  has  no  surer  death-mark  than 
&  humility  which  makes  itself  of  no  reputation, 
which  empties  out  itself,  and  takes  the  form  of 
a  servant.  It  is  possible  to  speak  much  and 
honestly  of  fellowship  with  a  despised  and 
rejected  Jesus,  and  of  bearing  His  cross,  while 
the  meek  and  lowly,  the  kind  and  gentle 
humility  of  the  Lamb  of  God  is  not  seen, 
is  scarcely  sought.  The  Lamb  of  God  means 
two  things — meekness  and  death.  Let  us  seek 
to  receive  Him  in  both  forms.  In  Him  they  are 
inseparable  :  they  must  be  in  us  too. 

What  a  hopeless  task  if  we  had  to  do  the 
work !  Nature  never  can  overcome  nature,  not 
even  with  the  help  of  grace.  Self  can  never 
cast  out  self,  even  in  the  regenerate  man.  Praise 
God  1  the  work  has  been  done,  and  finished  and 
perfected  for  pvor       The  death   of  Jesus,  once 


78  UumtlltB* 


and  for  ever,  is  our  death  to  self.  And  the 
ascension  of  Jesus,  His  entering  once  and  for 
ever  into  the  Holiest,  has  given  us  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  communicate  to  us  in  power,  and  make 
our  very  own,  the  power  of  the  death-life.  As 
the  soul,  in  the  pursuit  and  practice  of  humility, 
follows  in  the  steps  of  Jesus,  its  consciousness 
of  the  need  of  something  more  is  awakened, 
its  desire  and  hope  is  quickened,  its  faith  If 
strengthened,  and  it  learns  to  look  up  and  claim 
and  receive  that  true  fulness  of  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus,  which  can  daily  maintain  His  death  to 
self  and  sin  in  its  full  power,  and  make  humility 
the  all-pervading  spirit  of  our  life.^ 

'Are  ye  ignorant  that  all  we  who  were 
baptized  into  Jesus  Christ  were  baptized  into  His 
death  ?  Reckon  yourselves  to  be  dead  unto  sin, 
but  alive  unto  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Present 
yourself  unto  God,  as  alive  from  tlie  dead.''  The 
whole  self-consciousness  of  the  Christian  is  to  be 
imbued  and  characterised  by  the  spirit  that 
animated  the  death  of  Christ.  He  has  ever  to 
present  himself  to  God  as  one  who  has  died 
in  Christ,  and  in  Christ  is  alive  from  the  dead, 
bearing  about  in  his  body  the  dying  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  His  life  ever  bears  the  twofold 
nmrk  :  its  roots  striking  in  true  humility  deep 
'  .Set.  Nou  C. 


K)ummtB  anD  fi)eatb  to  Selt  79 

into  the  grave  of  Jesus,  the  death  to  sin  and 
self ;  its  head  lifted  up  in  resurrection  power  to 
the  heaven  where  Jesus  is, 

Believer,  claim  in  faith  the  death  and  the 
life  of  Jesus  as  thine.  Enter  in  His  grave  into 
the  rest  from  self  and  its  work — the  rest  of 
God.  With  Christ,  who  committed  His  spirit 
into  the  Father's  hands,  humble  thyself  and 
descend  each  day  into  that  perfect,  helpless 
dependence  upon  God.  G^d  will  raise  thee  up 
and  exalt  thee.  Sink  every  morning  in  deep, 
deep  nothingness  into  the  grave  of  Jesus ;  every 
day  the  Ufe  of  Jesus  will  be  manifest  in  thee. 
Let  a  willing,  loving,  restful,  happy  humility  be 
the  mark  that  thou  hast  indeed  claimed  thy 
birthright — the  baptism  into  the  death  of 
Christ.  *  By  one  offering  He  hath  perfected  for 
ever  them  that  are  sanctified.'  The  souls  that 
enter  into  His  humiliation  will  find  in  Him  the 
power  to  see  and  count  self  dead,  and,  as  those 
who  have  learned  and  received  of  Him,  to  walk 
with  all  lowliness  and  meekness,  forbearing 
one  another  in  love.  The  death-life  is  seen  in 
A  meekness  and  lowliness  like  that  of  Christ. 


DumiUtB. 


Humility:   The   Beauty  of  Holiness. 

XL 

IbumiUtB  anD  Ibappincss. 

Most  gladly  there/ore  vriU  I  rather  glory  in  my  weak- 
nesses,  that  the  strength  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  ms. 
WTierefore  J  take  pleasure,  in  weaknesses :  for  when  I  am 
weak,  then  am  I  strong.' — 2  OoB.  xii.  9.  10. 

T  EST  Paul  should  exalt  himself,  by  reason  of 
-*-^  the  exceeding  greatness  of  the  revelations, 
a  thorn  in  the  flesh  was  sent  him  to  keep  him 
humble.  Paul's  first  desire  was  to  have  it 
removed,  and  he  besought  the  Lord  thrice  that 
it  might  depart  The  answer  came  that  the 
trial  was  a  blessing ;  that,  in  the  weakness  and 
humiliation  it  brought,  the  grace  and  strength 
of  the  Lord  could  be  the  better  manifested. 
Paul  at  once  entered  upon  a  new  stage  in  his 
relation  to  the  trial :  instead  of  simply  enduring 
it,  he  most  gladly  gloried  in  it;  instead  of 
asking  for  deliverance,  he  took  pleasure  in  it 
He  had  learned  that  the  place  of  humiliation  is 
the  place  of  blessing,  of  power,  of  joy. 


fcumilitB  ano  "bappincas.  si 

Every  Christian  virtually  passes  through  these 
two  stages  in  his  pursuit  of  humility.  In  the 
first  he  fears  and  flees  and  seeks  deliverance 
from  all  that  can  humble  him.  He  has  not  yet 
learnt  to  seek  humility  at  any  cost.  He  has 
accepted  the  command  to  be  humble,  and  seeks 
to  obey  it,  though  only  to  find  how  utterly 
he  fails.  He  prays  for  humility,  at  times  very 
earnestly ;  but  in  his  secret  heart  he  prays  more, 
if  not  in  word,  then  in  wish,  to  be  kept  from  the 
very  things  that  will  make  him  humble.  He  is 
not  yet  so  in  love  with  humility  as  the  beauty 
of  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  the  joy  of  heaven,  that 
he  would  sell  all  to  procure  it.  In  his  pursuit 
of  it,  and  his  prayer  for  it,  there  is  still  some- 
what of  a  sense  of  burden  and  of  bondage ;  to 
humble  himself  has  not  yet  become  the  spontane- 
ous expression  of  a  life  and  a  nature  that  is 
essentially  humble.  It  has  not  yet  become  his 
joy  and  only  pleasure.  He  cannot  yet  say,  '  Most 
gladly  do  I  glory  in  weakness,  I  take  pleasure  in 
whatever  humbles  me.' 

But  can  we  hope  to  reach  the  stage  in  which 
this  will  be  the  easel  Undoubtedly.  And 
what  will  it  be  that  brings  us  there?  TTiat 
which  brought  Paul  there — a  new  revelation  of 
the  Lord  Jesvs.  Nothing  but  the  presence  of 
God  can  reveal  and  expel  self.     A  clearer  insight 


82  •fcumilltis* 


was  to  be  given  to  Paul  into  the  deep  truth  that 
the  presence  of  Jesus  will  banish  every  desire  to 
seek  anything  in  ourselves,  and  will  make  us 
delight  in  every  humiliation  that  prepares  us  for 
His  fuller  manifestation.  Our  humiliations  lead 
us,  in  the  experience  of  the  presence  and  power 
of  Jesus,  to  choose  humility  as  our  highest 
blessing.  Let  us  try  and  learn  the  lessons  the 
story  of  Paul  teaches  us. 

We  may  have  advanced  believers,  eminent 
teachers,  men  of  heavenly  experiences,  who  have 
not  yet  fully  learnt  the  lesson  of  perfect  humility, 
gladly  glorying  in  weakness.  We  see  this  in 
Paul.  The  danger  of  exalting  himself  was 
coming  very  near.  He  knew  not  yet  perfectly 
what  it  was  to  be  nothing ;  to  die,  that  Christ 
alone  might  live  in  him ;  to  take  pleasure  in  all 
that  brought  him  low.  It  appears  as  if  this 
were  the  highest  lesson  that  he  had  to  learn,  full 
conformity  to  his  Lord  in  that  self -emptying  where 
he  gloried  in  weakness  that  God  might  be  all. 

The  highest  lesson  a  believer  has  to  learn  is 
humility.  Oh  that  every  Christian  who  seeks 
to  advance  in  holiness  may  remember  this  well ! 
There  may  be  intense  consecration,  and  fervent 
zeal  and  heavenly  experience,  and  yet,  if  it  is 
not  prevented  by  very  special  .  dealings  of  the 
I^rd,  there  may  be  an  unconscious  self-exaltation 


•toumllttg  anO  Dappmcss.  83 

with  it  all.  Let  us  learn  the  lesson, — the  highest 
holiness  is  the  deepest  humility ;  and  let  us 
remember  that  it  comes  not  of  itself,  but  only  as 
it  is  made  a  matter  of  special  dealing  on  the  part 
of  our  faithful  Lord  and  His  faithful  servant. 

Let  us  look  at  our  lives  in  the  light  of  this 
experience,  and  see  whether  we  gladly  glory  in 
weakness,  whether  we  take  pleasure,  as  Paul  did, 
in  injuries,  in  necessities,  in  distresses.  Yes, 
let  us  ask  whether  we  have  learnt  to  regard  a 
reproof,  just  or  unjust,  a  reproach  from  friend  or 
enemy,  an  injury,  or  trouble,  or  difficulty  into 
which  others  bring  us,  as  above  all  an  opportunity 
of  proving  how  Jesus  is  all  to  us,  how  our  own 
pleasure  or  honour  are  nothing,  and  how  humilia- 
tion is  in  very  truth  what  we  take  pleasure  in. 
It  is  indeed  blessed,  the  deep  happiness  of  heaven, 
to  be  so  free  from  self  that  whatever  is  said  of  us  or 
done  to  us  is  lost  and  swallowed  up  in  the  thought 
that  Jesus  is  all. 

Let  us  trust  Him  who  took  charge  of  Paul 
to  take  charge  of  us  too.  Paul  needed  special 
discipline,  and  with  it  special  instruction,  to  learn, 
what  was  more  precious  than  even  the  unutterable 
things  he  had  heard  in  heaven — what  it  is  to 
glory  in  weakness  and  lowliness.  We  need  it, 
too,  oh  so  much.  He  who  cared  for  him  will 
care  for  us  too.   The  school  in  which  Jesus  taught 


■fcumlliti?. 


Paul  is  our  school  too.  He  watches  over  us  with 
a  jealous,  loving  care,  *  lest  we  exalt  ourselves.' 
When  we  are  doing  so,  He  seeks  to  discover  to 
us  the  evil,  and  deliver  us  from  it  In  trial  and 
weakness  and  trouble  He  seeks  to  bring  us  low, 
until  we  so  learn  that  His  grace  is  all,  as  to  take 
pleasure  in  the  very  thing  that  brings  us  and 
keeps  us  low.  His  strength  made  perfect  in  our 
weakness,  His  presence  filling  and  satisfying  our 
emptiness,  becomes  the  secret  of  a  humility  that 
need  never  fail.  It  can,  as  Paul,  in  full  sight  of 
what  God  works  in  us  and  through  us,  ever  say^ 
*  In  nothing  was  I  behind  the  chiefest  apostles, 
though  I  am  nothing.^  His  humiliations  had  led 
him  to  true  humility,  with  its  wonderful  glad- 
ness and  glorying  and  pleasure  in  all  that 
humbles. 

'  Most  gladly  will  I  glory  in  my  weaknesses, 
that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me ; 
wherefore  I  take  pleasure  in  weaknesses.'  The 
humble  man  has  leamt  the  secret  of  abiding 
gladness.  The  weaker  he  feels,  the  lower  be 
sinks,  the  greater  his  humiliations  appear,  the 
more  the  power  and  the  presence  of  Christ  are  his 
portion,  until,  as  he  says,  *I  am  nothing,'  the 
word  of  his  Lord  brings  ever  deeper  joy :  *  My 
grace  is  sufficient  for  thee.' 

I  feel  as  if  I  must  once  again  gather  up  all  in 


DumiUti?  ano  fcappincss.  85 

the  two  lessons  :  the  danger  of  pride  is  greater 
and  nearer  than  we  think,  and  the  grace  for 
humility  too. 

The  danger  of  pride  is  greater  and  nearer  than 
we  think,  and  that  especially  at  the  time  of  our 
highest  experiences.  The  preacher  of  spiritual 
truth  with  an  admiring  congregation  hanging  on 
his  lips,  the  gifted  speaker  on  a  Holiness  platform 
expounding  the  secrets  of  the  heavenly  life,  the 
Christian  giving  testimony  to  a  blesseed  experi- 
ence, the  evangelist  moving  on  as  in  triumph, 
and  made  a  blessing  to  rejoicing  multitudes, — 
no  man  knows  the  hidden,  the  unconscious 
danger  to  which  these  are  exposed.  Paul  was 
in  danger  without  knowing  it :  what  Jesus  did 
for  him  is  written  for  our  admonition,  that  we 
may  know  our  danger  and  know  our  only  safety. 
If  ever  it  has  been  said  of  a  teacher  or  professor 
of  holiness, — he  is  so  full  of  self ;  or,  he  does  not 
practise  what  he  preaches ;  or,  his  blessing  has 
not  made  him  humbler  or  gentler, — let  it  be  said 
no  more.  Jesus,  m  whom  we  trust,  can  make 
us  humble. 

YeSf  the  grace  for  humility  is  greater  and 
nearer,  too,  than  we  think.  The  humility  of 
Jesus  is  our  salvation :  Jesus  Himself  is  our 
humility.  Our  himiility  is  His  care  and  His 
work.  His  grace  is  sufficient  for  us,  to  meet 
6 


86  IbumtltiB. 


the  temptation  of  pride  too.  His  strength 
will  be  perfected  in  our  weakness.  Let  us 
choose  to  be  weak,  to  be  low,  to  be  nothing. 
Let  humility  be  to  us  joy  and  gladness.  Let  ua 
gladly  glory  and  take  pleasure  in  weakness,  in  all 
that  can  humble  us  and  keep  us  low ;  the  power 
of  Christ  will  rest  upon  us.  Christ  humbled 
Himself,  therefore  God  exalted  Him.  Christ 
will  humble  us,  and  keep  us  humble;  let  us 
heartily  consent,  let  us  trustfully  and  joyfully 
accept  all  that  humbles;  the  power  of  Christ 
will  rest  upon  us.  We  shall  find  that  the 
deepest  humility  is  the  secret  of  the  truest  happi- 
ness, of  a  joy  that  nothing  can  destroy. 


■fcumilitB  anD  Bfaltatton.  87 


Humility:  Tiie   Beauty  of  Holiness. 

XII. 

Dumllits  anD  Ejaltatton. 

*He  fhat  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted/— Luku 
xiv.  11,  xviii.  13. 

*  God  giveth  grace  to  the  humble.  Hvmble  yourself  in  the 
sight  of  the  Lord,  and  He  shall  exalt  you.* — Jas.  iv.  10. 

'  Hurrible  yourselves  therefore  under  the  mighty  hand  oj 
God,  that  He  may  exalt  you  in  due  time. ' — 1  Pet.  v.  6. 

JUST  yesterday  I  was  asked  the  question, 
How  am  I  to  conquer  this  pride  ?  The  answer 
was  simple.  Two  things  are  needed.  Do  what 
God  says  is  your  work :  humble  yourself.  Trust 
Him  to  do  what  He  says  is  His  work :  He  will 
exalt  you. 

The  command  is  clear:  humble  yourself. 
That  does  not  mean  that  it  is  your  work  to  con- 
quer and  cast  out  the  pride  of  your  nature,  and 
to  form  within  yourself  the  lowliness  of  the 
holy  Jesus.  No,  this  is  God's  work ;  the  very 
essence  of  that  exaltation,  wherein  He  lifts  you 
up  into  the  real  likeness  of   the   beloved  Son, 


88  DumilttB. 


What  the  command  does  mean  is  this:  take 
every  opportunity  of  humbling  yourself  before 
God  and  man.  In  the  faith  of  the  grace  that  is 
already  working  in  you ;  in  the  assurance  of  the 
more  grace  for  victory  that  is  coming ;  up  to  the 
light  that  conscience  each  time  flashes  upon  the 
pride  of  the  heart  and  its  workings;  notwith- 
standing all  there  may  be  of  failure  and  falling, 
stand  persistently  as  under  the  unchanging  com- 
mand :  humble  yourself.  Accept  with  gratitude 
everything  that  God  allows  from  within  or  with- 
out, from  friend  or  enemy,  in  nature  or  in  grace, 
to  remind  you  of  your  need  of  humbling,  and  to 
help  you  to  it.  Reckon  humility  to  be  indeed 
the  mother-virtue,  your  very  first  duty  before 
God,  the  one  perpetual  safeguard  of  the  soul, 
and  set  your  heart  upon  it  as  the  source  of  all 
blessing.  The  promise  is  divine  and  sure :  He 
that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted.  See  that 
you  do  the  one  thing  God  asks :  humble  your- 
self. God  will  see  that  He  does  the  one  thing 
He  has  promised.  He  will  give  more  grace  j 
He  will  exalt  you  in  due  time. 

All  God's  dealings  with  man  are  characterised 
by  two  stages.  There  is  the  time  of  preparation, 
when  command  and  promise,  with  the  mingled 
experience  of  effort  and  impotence,  of  failure  and 
partial   success,    with   the    holy   expectancy   of 


t)umiliti3  mtd  B^altattotu  89 

something  better  which  these  waken,  train  and 
discipline  men  for  a  higher  stage.  Then  comes 
the  time  of  fulfihnent,  when  faith  inherits  the 
promise,  and  enjoys  what  it  had  so  often  struggled 
for  in  vain.  This  law  holds  good  in  every  part 
of  the  Christian  life,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  every 
separate  virtue.  And  that  because  it  is  grounded 
in  the  very  nature  of  things.  In  all  that  con- 
cerns our  redemption,  God  must  needs  take  the 
initiative.  When  that  has  been  done,  man's 
turn  comes.  In  the  effort  after  obedience  and 
attainment,  he  must  learn  to  know  his  impotence, 
in  self-despair  to  die  to  himself,  and  so  be  fitted 
voluntarily  and  intelligently  to  receive  from  God 
the  end,  the  completion  of  that  of  which  he  had 
accepted  the  beginning  in  ignorance.  So,  God 
who  had  been  the  Beginning,  ere  man  rightly 
knew  Him,  or  fully  understood  what  His  purpose 
was,  is  longed  for  and  welcomed  as  the  End,  as 
the  All  in  All. 

It  is  even  thus,  too,  In  the  pursuit  of  humility. 
To  every  Christian  the  command  comes  from 
the  throne  of  God  Himself :  humble  yourself. 
The  earnest  attempt  to  listen  and  obey  will  be 
rewarded — yes,  rewarded — with  the  painful  dis- 
covery of  two  things.  The  one,  what  depth  of 
pride,  that  is  of  unwillingness  to  count  oneself 
and  to  be  counted  nothing,  to  submit  absolutely 


90  Dumilttc* 


to  God,  there  was,  that  one  never  knew.  The 
other,  what  utter  impotence  there  is  in  all  our 
efforts,  and  in  all  our  prayers  too  for  God's  help, 
to  destroy  the  hideous  monster.  Blessed  the 
man  who  now  learns  to  put  his  hope  in  God,  and 
to  persevere,  notwithstanding  all  the  power  of 
pride  within  him,  in  acts  of  humiliation  before 
God  and  men.  We  know  the  law  of  human 
nature:  acts  produce  habits,  habits  breed  dis- 
positions, dispositions  form  the  will,  and  the 
rightly-formed  will  is  character.  It  is  no  other- 
wise in  the  work  of  grace.  As  acts,  persistently 
repeated,  beget  habits  and  dispositions,  and  these 
strengthen  the  will.  He  who  works  both  to  will 
and  to  do  comes  with  His  mighty  power  and 
Spirit ;  and  the  humbling  of  the  proud  heart  with 
which  the  penitent  saint  cast  himself  so  often 
before  God,  is  rewarded  with  the  *  more  grace '  of 
the  humble  heart,  in  which  the  Spirit  of  Jesus 
has  conquered,  and  brought  the  new  nature  to 
its  maturity,  and  He  the  meek  and  lowly  One  now 
dwells  for  ever. 

Humble  yourselves  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord, 
and  He  will  exalt  you.  And  wherein  does  the 
exaltation  consist?  The  highest  glory  of  the 
creature  Is  in  being  only  a  vessel,  to  receive  and 
enjoy  and  show  forth  the  glory  of  God.  It  can 
do  this  oiiiy   as  it  is  willing  to  be  nothing  in 


IbumiUtB  anO  Bjaltatton.  91 

itself,  that  God  may  be  all.  Water  always  fills 
first  the  lowest  places.  The  lower,  the  emptier 
a  man  lies  before  God,  the  speedier  and  the 
fuller  will  be  the  inflow  of  the  divine  glory. 
The  exaltation  God  promises  is  not,  cannot  be, 
any  external  thing  apart  from  Himself :  all  that 
He  has  to  give  or  can  give  is  only  more  of  Him- 
self, Himself  to  take  more  complete  possession. 
The  exaltation  is  not,  like  an  earthly  prize, 
something  arbitrary,  in  no  necessary  connection 
with  the  conduct  to  be  rewarded.  No,  but  it  is 
in  its  very  nature  the  effect  and  result  of  the 
humbling  of  ourselves.  It  is  nothing  but  the 
gift  of  such  a  divine  indwelling  humility,  such 
a  conformity  to  and  possession  of  the  himiility 
of  the  Lamb  of  God,  as  fits  us  for  receiving  fully 
the  indwelling  of  God. 

He  that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted. 
Of  the  truth  of  these  words  Jesus  Himself  is 
the  proof ;  of  the  certainty  of  their  fulfilment  to 
us  He  is  the  pledge.  Let  us  take  His  yoke  upon 
us  and  learn  of  Him,  for  He  is  meek  and  lowly 
of  heart.  If  we  are  but  willing  to  stoop  to  Him, 
as  He  has  stooped  to  us,  He  will  yet  stoop  to 
each  one  of  us  again,  and  we  shall  find  ourselves 
not  unequally  yoked  with  Him.  As  we  enter 
deeper  into  the  fellowship  of  His  humiliation, 
and  either  humble  ourselves  or  bear  the  humbling 


9a  tJumtlltB. 


of  men,  we  can  count  upon  it  that  the  Spirit  of 
His  exaltation,  *  the  Spirit  of  God  and  of  glory,' 
will  rest  upon  us.  The  presence  and  the  power 
of  the  glorified  Christ  will  come  to  them  that  are 
of  an  humble  spirit.  "When  God  can  again  have 
His  rightful  place  in  us,  He  will  lift  us  up. 
Make  His  glory  thy  care  in  humbling  thyself  ; 
He  will  make  thy  glory  His  care  in  perfecting 
thy  humility,  and  breathing  into  thee,  as  thy 
abiding  life,  the  very  Spirit  of  His  Son.  As  the 
all- pervading  life  of  God  possesses  thee,  there 
will  be  nothing  so  natural,  and  nothing  so  sweet, 
as  to  be  nothing,  with  not  a  thought  or  wish  for 
self,  because  all  is  occupied  with  Him  who  filleth 
all.  *  Most  gladly  will  I  glory  in  my  weakness, 
that  the  strength  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me.' 

Brother,  have  we  not  here  the  reason  that  our 
consecration  and  our  faith  have  availed  so  little 
in  the  pursuit  of  holiness  1  It  was  by  self  and 
its  strength  that  the  work  was  done  under  the 
name  of  faith ;  it  was  for  self  and  its  happiness 
that  God  was  called  in ;  it  was,  unconsciously, 
but  still  truly,  in  self  and  its  holiness  that  the 
soul  rejoiced.  We  never  knew  that  himiility, 
absolute,  abiding.  Christlike  humility  and  self- 
effacement,  pervading  and  marking  our  whole 
life  with  God  and  man,  was  the  most  essential 
element  of  the  life  of  the  holiness  we  sought  for. 


Dumillt^  anO  Ejaltatton.  93 

It  is  only  in  the  possession  of  God  that  I  lose 
myself.  As  it  is  in  the  height  and  breadth  and 
glory  of  the  sunshine  that  the  littleness  of  the 
mote  playing  in  its  beams  is  seen,  even  so  humility 
is  the  taking  our  place  in  God's  presence  to  be 
nothing  but  a  mote  dwelling  in  the  sunlight  of 
His  love. 

'  How  great  is  God  !  how  small  am  I ! 
Lost,  swallowed  up  in  Love's  immensity  ! 
God  only  there,  not  L' 

May  God  teach  us  to  believe  that  to  be 
humble,  to  be  nothing  in  His  presence,  is  the 
highest  attainment,  and  the  fullest  blessing,  of 
the  Christian  life.  He  speaks  to  us :  'I  dwell 
in  the  high  and  holy  place,  and  with  him  that 
is  of  a  contrite  and  humble  spirit.'  Be  this  oui 
portion ! 

'  Oh,  to  be  emptier,  lowHer, 

Mean,  unnoticed,  and  unknown, 
And  to  God  a  vessel  holier, 
Filled  with  Ohri«t,  and  Christ  ilons  ! 


94  TbumtlitB 


NOTES. 

Note  A. — *A11  this  tx)  make  it  known  through  the 
region  of  eternity  that  pride  can  degrade  the  highest 
angels  into  devils,  and  humility  raise  fallen  flesh 
and  hlood  to  the  thrones  of  angels.  Thus,  this  is  the 
great  end  of  God  raising  a  new  creation  out  of  » 
fallen  kingdom  of  angels  ;  for  this  end  it  stands  in 
its  state  of  war  betwixt  the  fire  and  pride  of  fallen 
angels,  and  the  humility  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  that 
the  last  trumpet  may  sound  the  great  truth  through 
the  depths  of  eternity,  that  evil  can  have  no 
beginning  but  from  pride,  and  no  end  but  from 
humility.  The  truth  is  this  :  Pride  must  die  in 
you,  or  nothing  of  heaven  can  live  in  you.  Under 
the  banner  of  the  truth,  give  yourself  up  to  the  meek 
and  humble  spirit  of  the  holy  Jesus.  Humility 
must  sow  the  seed,  or  there  can  be  no  reaping  in 
heaven.  Look  not  at  pride  only  as  an  unbecoming 
temper,  nor  at  humility  only  as  a  decent  virtue  : 
for  the  one  is  death,  and  the  other  is  life  ;  the  one  is 
all  hell,  the  other  is  all  heaven.  So  much  as  you 
have  of  pride  within  you,  you  have  of  the  fallen 
angel  alive  in  you  ;  so  much  as  you  have  of  true 
humility,  so  much  you  have  of  the  Lamb  of  God 
within  you.  Could  you  see  what  every  stirring  of 
pride  does  to  your  soul,  you  would  beg  of  everything 
yea  meet  to  tear  the  viper  from  you,  though  with  the 


tROteg.  95 


loss  of  a  hand  or  an  eye.  Could  you  see  what  a  sweet, 
divine,  transforming  power  there  is  in  humility, 
how  it  expels  the  poison  of  your  nature^  and  makes 
room  for  the  Spirit  of  God  to  live  in  you,  you  would 
rather  wish  to  be  the  footstool  of  all  the  world  than 
want  the  smallest  degree  of  it.' — Spirit  of  Prdyer^ 
Pt  II.  p.  73,  Edition  of  Moreton,  Canterbury,  1893. 

Note  B. — '  We  need  to  know  two  things  :  1.  That 
our  salvation  consists  wholly  in  being  saved  from 
ourselves,  or  that  which  we  are  by  nature  ;  2.  That 
in  the  whole  nature  of  things  nothing  could  be  this 
salvation  or  saviour  to  us  but  such  a  humility  of 
God  as  is  beyond  all  expression.  Hence  the  first 
unalterable  term  of  the  Saviour  to  fallen  man  : 
Except  a  man  denies  himself,  he  cannot  be  My 
disciple.  Self  is  the  whole  evil  of  fallen  nature : 
self-denial  is  our  capacity  of  being  saved  ;  humility 

is  our  saviour Self  is  the  root,  the  branches, 

the  tree,  of  all  the  evil  of  our  fallen  state.  All  the 
evils  of  fallen  angels  and  men  have  their  birth 
in  the  pride  of  self.  On  the  other  hand,  all  the 
virtues  of  the  heavenly  life  are  the  virtues  of 
humility.  It  is  humility  alone  that  makes  the 
unpassable  gulf  between  heaven  and  hell.  What  is 
then,  or  in  what  lies,  the  great  struggle  for  eternal 
life  ?  It  all  lies  in  the  strife  between  pride  and 
humility  :  pride  and  humility  are  the  two  master 
powers,  the  two  kingdoms  in  strife  for  the  eternal 
possession  of  man.  There  never  was,  nor  ever  will 
be,  but  one  humility,  and  that  is  the  one  humility 
of  Christ.  Pride  and  self  have  the  all  of  man,  till 
man  has  his  all  from  Christ.  He  therefore  only 
fights  the  good  fight  whose  strife  is  that  the  self- 
idolatrous  nature  which  he  hath  from  Adam  may 
be  brought  to  death  by  the  supernatural  humility 
of  Christ  broTight  to  life  in  him.' — W.  Law,  Addnsi 


t)umtUtB» 


to  the  Clergy,  p.  62.  [I  hope  that  this  book  of  Law 
on  the  Holy  Spirit  may  be  issued  by  my  publisher 
in  the  course  of  the  year.] 

Note  C. — 'To  die  to  self,  or  come  from  under 
its  power,  is  not,  cannot  be  done,  by  any  active 
resistance  we  can  make  to  it  by  the  powers  of 
nature.  The  one  true  way  of  dying  to  self  is  the 
way  of  patience,  meekne^i,  hwmility,  and  resignation  to 
God.     This  is  the  truth  and  perfection  of  dying  to 

self For  if  I  ask  you  what  the  Lamb  of  God 

means,  must  you  not  tell  me  that  it  is  and  means 
the  perfection  of  patience,  meekness,  humility,  and 
resignation  to  God  1  Must  you  not  therefore  say  that 
1  desire  and  faith  of  these  virtues  is  an  application 
to  Christ,  is  a  giving  up  yourself  to  Him  and  the 
perfection  of  faith  in  Him  !  And  then,  because  this 
inclination  of  your  heart  to  sink  down  in  patience, 
meekness,  humility,  and  resignation  to  God,  is  truly 
giving  up  all  that  you  are  and  all  that  you  have 
From  fallen  Adam,  it  is  perfectly  leaving  all  you 
have  to  follow  Christ ;  it  is  your  highest  act  of  faith 
in  Him.  Christ  is  nowhere  but  in  these  virtues ; 
when  they  are  there,  He  is  in  His  own  kingdom. 
Let  this  be  the  Christ  you  follow . 

*  The  Spirit  of  divine  love  can  have  no  birth  in 
any  fallen  creature,  till  it  wills  and  chooses  to  be 
dead  to  all  self,  in  a  pa4;ient,  humble  resignation  to 
the  power  and  mercy  of  God. 

*  I  seek  for  all  my  salvation  through  the  merits 
and  mediation  of  the  meek,  humble,  patient,  suj^ering 
Lamb  of  God,  who  alone  hath  power  to  bring  forth 
the  blessed  birth  of  these  heavenly  virtues  in  my 
«oul.  There  is  no  possibility  of  salvation  but  in 
and  by  the  birth  of  the  meek,  hvmible,  patient,  resigned 
Lauyb  of  God  in  our  souls.  When  the  Lamb  of  Gk>d 
haLh  brouKAt  forth  a  real  birth  of  His  c^n  meeknessy 


flOtCS.  97 


humility,  and  full  resignation  to  God  in  our  souls, 
then  it  is  the  birthday  of  the  Spirit  of  love  in  oui 
Bouls,  which,  whenever  we  attain,  will  feast  our  souls 
with  such  peace  and  joy  in  God  as  will  blot  out  the 
remembrance  of  everytning  that  we  called  peace  or 
joy  before. 

*  This  way  to  God  is  infallible.  This  infallibility 
is  grounded  in  the  twofold  character  of  our  Saviour: 
1.  As  He  is  the  Lamb  of  God,  a  principle  of  all 
meekness  am,d  hvmiility  in  the  soul  ;  2.  As  He  is  the 
Light  of  heaven,  and  blesses  eternal  nature,  and  turnp 
it  into  a  kingdom  of  heaven, — when  we  are  willing 
to  get  rest  to  our  souls  in  meek,  humble  resignation 
to  God,  then  it  is  that  He,  as  the  Light  of  God 
and  heaven,  joyfully  breaks  in  upon  us,  turns  our 
darkness  into  light,  and  bec^ins  that  kingdom  of  God 
and  of  love  within  us,  whicn  will  never  have  an  end.' 
— See  Wholly  for  God,j>^.  84-102.  [The  whole  passage 
deserves  careful  study,  showing  most  remarkably 
how  the  continual  sinking  down  in  humility  before 
God  is,  from  man's  side,  the  only  way  to  die  to 
fleK.]  1 

Note  D. — A  Secret  of  Secrets :  Humility  the  Soul 
of  True  Prayer.  —  Till  the  spirit  of  the  heart  be 
renewed,  till  it  is  emptied  of  aU  earthly  desires,  and 
stands  in  an  habitual  hunger  and  thirst  after  God, 
which  is  the  true  spirit  of  prayer  j  till  then,  all  our 

Erayer  will  be,  more  or  less,  but  too  much  like 
issons  given  to  scholars  ;  and  we  shall  mostly  say 
them,  only  because  we  dare  not  neglect  them.  But 
be  not  discouraged  ;  take  the  following  advice,  and 

1  The  whole  dialogue  has  been  published  separately  under  the 
title  Dying  to  Self :  A  Golden  Dialogue.  By  William  Law.  With 
Notes  by  A.  M.  (Nisbet  &  Co.,  Is.)  Every  one  who  would  study 
and  practise  humility  will  find  in  this  golden  dialogue  what  it  is 
that  hinders  our  humility,  how  we  are  to  be  delivered  from  it, 
and  what  the  blessing  of  the  Spirit  of  Love  is  that  comes  to  the 
humble  from  Christ,  the  meek  and  lowly  Lamb  of  God. 


98  Ibumilttis. 


then  you  may  go  to  church  without  any  danger  of 
mere  lip-labour  or  hypocrisy,  although  there  should 
be  a  hymn  or  a  prayer,  whose  language  is  higher  than 
that  of  your  heart.  Do  this :  go  to  the  church  as 
the  publican  went  to  the  temple  ;  stand  inwardly  in 
the  spirit  of  your  mind  in  that  form  which  he  out- 
wardly expressed,  when  he  cast  down  his  eyes,  and 
could  only  say,  *  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner.' 
Stand  unchangeably,  at  least  in  your  desire,  in  thia 
form  or  state  of  heart ;  it  will  sanctify  every  petition 
that  comes  out  of  your  mouth  ;  and  when  anything 
is  read  or  sung  or  prayed,  that  is  more  exalted  than 
your  heart  is,  if  you  make  this  an  occasion  of  further 
sinking  down  in  the  spirit  of  the  publican,  you  will 
then  be  helped,  and  highly  blessed,  by  those  prayers 
and  praises  which  seem  only  to  belong  to  a  heart 
better  than  yours. 

This,  my  friend,  is  a  secret  of  secrets  ;  it  will  help 
you  to  reap  where  you  have  not  sown,  and  be  a 
continual  source  of  grace  in  your  soul ;  for  every- 
thing that  inwardly  stirs  in  you,  or  outwardly 
happens  to  you,  becomes  a  real  good  to  you,  if  it 
finds  or  excites  in  you  this  humble  state  of  mind. 
For  nothing  is  in  vain,  or  without  profit  to  the 
humble  soul ;  it  stands  always  in  a  state  of  divine 
growth  ;  everything  that  faUs  upon  it  is  like  a  dew 
of  heaven  to  it.  Shut  up  yourself,  therefore,  in  this 
form  of  Humility  ;  all  good  is  enclosed  in  it ;  it  is  a 
water  of  heaven,  that  turns  the  fire  of  the  fallen  soul 
into  the  meekness  of  the  divine  life,  and  creates 
that  oil,  out  of  which  the  love  to  God  and  man  gets 
its  flame.  Be  enclosed,  therefore,  always  in  it ;  let 
it  be  as  a  garment  wherewith  you  are  always  covered, 
and  a  gircfie  with  which  you  are  girt ;  breathe  nothing 
but  in  and  from  its  spirit ;  see  nothing  but  with  its 
eyes  ;  hear  nothing  but  with  its  ears.  And  then, 
whether  you  are  in  the  church  or  out  of  the 
church,  hearing   the   i)raises   of  God   or    receiving 


IRotee.  99 


wrongs  from  men  and  the  world,  all  will  be  edifica- 
tion, and  everything  will  help  forward  your  growth 
in  the  life  of  Qod.—The  Spirit  of  Prayer,  Pt.  IL 
p.  121. 

^  ^ragrr  for  |l?umtlitg. 

I  will  here  give  you  an  infallible  touchstone,  that 
will  try  all  to  the  truth.  It  is  this  :  retire  from  the 
world  and  all  conversation,  only  for  one  month  ; 
neither  write,  nor  read,  nor  debate  anything  with 
yourself  ;  stop  all  the  former  workings  of  your  heart 
and  mind  :  and,  with  all  the  strength  of  your  heart, 
stand  all  this  month,  as  continually  as  you  can,  in 
the  following  form  of  prayer  to  God.  Offer  it 
frequently  on  your  knees  ;  but  whether  sitting, 
walking,  or  standing,  be  always  inwardly  longing, 
and  earnestly  praying  this  one  prayer  to  God  :  '  That 
of  His  great  goodness  He  would  make  known  to 
you,  and  take  from  your  heart,  every  kind  and  form 
and  degree  of  Pride,  whether  it  be  from  evil  spirits, 
or  your  own  corrupt  nature  ;  and  that  He  would 
awaken  in  you  the  deepest  depth  and  truth  of  that 
Humility^  which  can  make  you  capable  of  His  light 
and  Holy  Spirit.'  Keject  every  thought,  but  that  of 
waiting  and  praying  in  this  matter  from  the  bottom 
of  your  heart,  with  such  truth  and  earnestness,  as 
people  in  torment  wish  to  pray  and  be  delivered 

from  it If  you  can  and  will  give  yourselves 

up  in  truth  and  sincerity  to  this  spirit  of  prayer,  I 
will  venture  to  affirm  that,  if  you  had  twice  as  many 
evil  spirits  in  you  as  Mary  Magdalene  had,  they  will 
all  be  cast  out  of  you,  and  you  will  be  forced  with 
her  to  weep  tears  of  love  at  the  feet  of  the  holy 
Jesus — Bnd.  p.  124. 


p„„ce,on  Theolog.cal  Sen;nar,-Speer  Ubjar: 


1012  01059  0406 


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